European Solidarity demands a reduction in ministry spending by UAH 161.5 billion – Yuzhanina

The expenditures of ministries and departments in the draft State Budget for 2027 can be reduced by UAH 161.5 billion.

Nina Yuzhanina, a member of parliament from the European Solidarity faction, wrote about this on social media. She noted that these funds should be used for defense purposes.

“This is the next block of our amendments to bill No. 16000,” the deputy wrote on social media.

We are talking about two types of expenses:

• Consumption expenditures (excluding utilities) are proposed to be revised based on the actual 2026 baseline and corresponding growth indices.
• Development expenditures are capital expenditures. They are proposed to be reduced under certain budget programs.

“And here I want to draw attention to a fundamental point. We are not proposing to halt the work of government agencies or leave them without necessary funding. But how can we continue to accept billions of hryvnias in increased spending in the judicial system, the prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Digital Development, and the Verkhovna Rada?” Yuzhanina writes.

“How can we agree to funding populist programs like ‘Vova’s 1000/1500,’ ‘Health Screening,’ ‘Cashbacks and Eat-Banches’ to the tune of tens of billions of hryvnias? And also the return of the special road fund, into which 25% of the relevant revenues are proposed to be directed. We’re also talking about tens of billions of hryvnias!” the deputy notes.

And that’s not all. “Thousandth Anniversary” and “Unified Marathon” – over 7 billion hryvnias. I have one question: is all this really more important today than adequate pay for our military? Do they at least deserve an indexation of their compensation for defense (ours and yours)?” writes Nina Yuzhanina.

“It will be very interesting to see how the Ministry of Finance will justify the need to maintain these expenditures. And is the government prepared to reconsider at least some of them?” asks a representative of European Solidarity.

As is known, European Solidarity demands the removal of all populist and corrupt spending items from the draft 2027 State Budget . At the same time, the released funds should be used exclusively for defense and strengthening the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to party leader Petro Poroshenko, the redistribution of non-targeted spending will allow for at least half a trillion hryvnias to be allocated to the military.

“Our demands are specific: at least 500 billion hryvnias in additional resources for the military, for the purchase of weapons and defense technology; 30 percent of the military’s personal income tax directly to the brigades; indexation of pay; protection of the energy sector and the economy; the cancellation of non-priority and propaganda spending; fulfillment of European commitments and restoration of allied trust,” Poroshenko noted.