EU issues anti-corruption demand to Ukraine – FT

Brussels has tied this year’s financing to further reforms while reportedly warning Kiev over an amendment easing scrutiny of former officials

Published 3 Oct, 2026 14:12

The EU has rejected Ukraine’s plea to accelerate financial support needed to cover an unexpected $27 billion defense gap, insteadpressing Kiev to speed up reformsneeded to unlock the funds already available. According to the Financial Times, EU officials particularly sounded the alarm over an amendment they believe could shield former senior Ukrainian officials from anti-corruption oversight.

Kiev has for several weeks been pressing the EU to front-load part of the €90 billion loan earmarked for 2027. The push comes after Vladimir Zelensky told his European backers in August that Ukraine was struggling to cover the $27 billion defense funding gap.

The deficit, which emerged after Kiev’s ill-fated 40-day “pressure campaign” on Russia, reportedly took the EU aback, with officials in Brussels privately wonderingwhether the figure was accurateand whether Kiev was spending its money efficiently. Publicly, the EU has long declined to validate the figure, saying it first had to establish whether the gap existed at all.

On Thursday, following talks in Brussels, the EU and Ukraine issued a statement which conspicuously did not mention the $27 billion, saying only that the sides had “identified the means to cover Ukraine’s budget and defense needs for 2026” and “reconfirmed the steps needed to ensure their timely release.”

Separately on Friday, EU Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho stressed that “we had never said that there was a financial gap.” Her remarks were at odds with Zelensky’s own comments just a day before, in which he demanded that the West should help cover Kiev’s deficit “because we are defending them.”

Access to much of the available money this year (€34 billion)remains conditional on Ukraine’s reforms, many of which have stalled. Among them are new taxation rules for digital platforms and changes to VAT treatment of low-value imports.

According to a letter cited by the FT, European commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Marta Kos raised particular concern over acontroversial provision that Ukrainian lawmakers had attached to an unrelated digital-platform taxation bill.

The amendment would make enhanced financial scrutiny of former politically exposed persons (PEPs) mandatory for only one year after they leave office, thus raising concerns that itwould weaken efforts to combat Ukraine’s rampant corruption.

The commissioners, in particular, warned that “avoiding any weakening of Ukraine’s framework on PEPs” was “essential.”

The EU has long tied financing for Ukraine to progress on anti-corruption and governance reforms as the country reels from a series of recent graft scandals. The largest centers on an alleged $100 million kickback scheme at state nuclear operator Energoatom, which was reportedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Zelensky.

Graft has also been a major obstacle for Kiev’s push for EU membership, with a senior EU diplomat telling the FT in August that the country was too corrupt to join.“You can’t bring a country of 40 million people that’s at 104 on the global corruption list into the EU. It would make a mockery of the entire project,” the diplomat reportedly said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/646680-eu-anti-corruption-demand-ukraine/

Finally the EU is understanding that they are being used and conned on how Ukraine have spent their money. It's about time.

EU coldly kills Zelensky’s 2027 membership demand

Ukraine’s January deadline is impossible, and Kiev will receive no privileges or shortcuts, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has said

Published 2 Oct, 2026 16:30

The EU hasrejected Vladimir Zelensky’s demand that Ukraine be admitted to the bloc by January 2027, with Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos sayingKiev must meet all membership requirementsand will receive no exemptions.

Speaking to Italy’s Corriere della Sera ahead of an enlargement policy review scheduled for next week, Kos said getting into the clubdepended on reformsrather than political deadlines.

“Accession is based on merit:it’s clear that this date is not possible,” she said, noting that the January date had been set only by Zelensky.

Kos acknowledged that Kiev views membership as a security guarantee and said helping Ukraine was the EU’s “duty.” However, she stressed thatcandidates need to meet demanding requirementson the rule of law, economic convergence, and adoption of EU legislation, and that there are “no privileges or discounts in the accession process,” and “no shortcuts.”

Kos instead backed gradual integration before full membership and said she hoped Ukraine could make further progress in accession talks by year’s end.

Zelensky has previously rejected alternatives to full EU membership. In May, he called German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s proposal for associate membership “unfair,” arguing that Ukraine could not participate in the bloc without voting rights.

Kiev received candidate status in 2022, but accession requires unanimous support from all 27 member states.Several EU members have consistently opposed Ukraine joining the bloc, including Hungary, which has repeatedly resisted accelerated admission and recently blocked the inclusion of any language on fast-tracking Ukraine from an EU summit conclusion.

Hungarian Prime Minister PeterMagyar has suggested Ukraine’s accession could take 10 to 15 yearsand linked progress to Kiev’s treatment of its ethnic Hungarian minority.

Corruptionhas also remained a significant obstacle to Kiev’s bid. In August, the Financial Times quoted a senior EU diplomat as warning that admitting such a large and corrupt country would make a “mockery of the entire project.”

Ukraine ranked 104th out of 182 countriesin Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index.

Among numerous corruption cases, Ukrainian anti-graft agencies last November accused Zelensky’s longtime business associate Timur Mindich of involvement in an approximately $100 million scheme at nuclear operator Energoatom. Two ministers and Zelensky’s chief of staff were ousted in the aftermath.

Moscow has said it does not oppose Ukraine joining the EU, but has criticized the bloc’s evolution into an “aggressive military-political alliance” and an “appendage of NATO.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also argued that Ukrainian accession could weaken the EU and destabilize the bloc.

https://www.rt.com/russia/646656-eu-kills-ukraine-membership-deadline/

(Finally, the EU are revealing how corrupt Ukraine is and cannot join the EU for many years. They are finding out all the theft of the EU money and how it was not used for the war, but theft and corruption widespread for Ukraine leaders.)

Abdul El-Sayed Billed County Taxpayers $9,000 a Month in ‘Consulting’ Fees While Running for Senate

Alana Goodman October 2, 2026

Michigan's left-wing Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed billed county taxpayers $ 9,000 per month in consulting fees while running for Senate, according to public records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The Wayne County Department of Health, Human and VeteransServices approved a contract to hire El-Sayed for "consulting services" on April 23, 2025,six daysafter El-Sayed announced he was running for Senate.

El-Sayed had previously served as director of the county health services department for two years, a posthe resignedfrom on April 3, 2025.

The contract, which extended through the end of the calendar year,stipulated that El-Sayed would be paid at a monthly rate of $9,000 for 30 hours of work—which amounts to around $ 300 per hour. Wayne County is run by county executive Warren Evans, a Democrat.

Under the agreement, El-Sayed wasapproved to receive up to $72,000for eight months of consulting work, in which he would "provide strategic support to the County in efforts to ensure smooth and effective leadership transition and aligning operational priorities with the County's broader vision for public health and human services."

The payments were routed through "AME Higher LLC," an entity created by El-Sayed as a pass-through for his consulting and speaking fees, according to the contract.

The news comes as El-Sayed has faced questions over his use of a tax loopholeto avoid payroll and income taxes on payments he received through AME Higher LLC. "While Abdul was improving services and making government more efficient for Michigan taxpayers, Mike Rogers was spinning through the revolving door, cashing checks from the same industries he used to regulate in Congress. Mike Rogers repeatedly voted to increase his own salary in Congress before retiring to his Florida mansion as a multimillionaire," El-Sayed spokeswoman Roxie Richner told the Free Beacon.

El-Sayed's latest financial disclosure, which covers all of 2025 and the first seven months of 2026, shows that he paid himself a "salary" of $64,000 and took an additional $103,000 as a "member draw" from AME Higher.This is a common strategy used to avoid payroll taxes, because "member draws" from S corporations are not taxed as regular income, accountants told the Free Beacon.

The Wayne County contract wasn't El-Sayed’s only consulting gig during his senatorial campaign.He has also collected over $82,000in consulting fees from One Health Partners, a Chicago-area nonprofit health care company that former employees called a "scam." It focuses on buying medical practices and "exploiting Medicare" to increase revenue, the Free Beacon reported. The company is run by one of El-Sayed's largest campaign donors,Ali Karim, who was sanctioned by Wisconsin regulators for defrauding an investorand has been accused of fraudulent business practices in multiple lawsuits.

El-Sayed served as director of the Wayne County health department for two years beginning in March 2023. He has touted his work for the Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services on the campaign trail,claiming he "led the rebuild from the studs" of the county's troubled juvenile prison.

During El-Sayed's time overseeing the facility, state investigators found the juvenile prison "flooded with sewage and garbage" as well as "dried feces and bodily fluids," according to government records obtained by the Free Beacon. A 12-year-old detainee was also "viciously beaten and anally gang raped" by a group of fellow inmates who had been left unsupervised by staff.

State regulators also revoked the facility's full operational license and placed it on probation due to widespread health and safety issues.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/abdul-el-sayed-billed-county-taxpayers-9000-a-month-in-consulting-fees-while-running-for-senate/