OSLO (Reuters) – Norway should significantly increase its financial aid to Ukraine, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told parliament on Thursday.
Parliament last year agreed to spend 35 billion Norwegian crowns ($3.22 billion) on military and civilian support for Ukraine in 2025, increasing the total framework, dubbed the Nansen programme, to 155 billion crowns from 2023 to 2030.
“I want to propose to the other parties in parliament that we meet this afternoon to discuss and agree on a significant increase in the Nansen programme for Ukraine this year,” Stoere said.
“We will organise our expanded support so that it provides the greatest possible fighting power as quickly as possible,” Stoere said, while adding that the government also plans to further boost Norway’s own military.
It marks the latest example of a European country scrambling to boost defence spending and maintain support for Ukraine after President Donald Trump froze U.S. military aid to Kyiv and fuelled doubts about its commitment to European NATO allies.
The Nansen programme is Norway’s cross-party, bilateral aid programme for Ukraine, named after Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen.
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik)
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