The payment of 4.6 billion euros comes as the alliance continues to pour money into Ukraine and increase military spending
The EU is set to use a multibillion-euro antitrust fine handed down to Google to help ease pressure on the union’s budget after years of increased military spending and aid to Ukraine.
The US tech giant has paid 4.6 billion euros ($5.4 billion), including interest, after losing a years-long legal battle over restrictions linked to its Android operating system. That sum is equivalent to more than 2% of the 2026 EU budget.
The European Commission imposed the fine in 2018, accusing Google of abusing Android’s market dominance by requiring smartphone makers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome. Earlier this month, the European Union’s supreme court upheld the penalty, clearing the way for the payment.
Under EU budget rules, fines collected by the commission are paid into the common budget of the community, reducing the total national revenue contributions required from member states.
The cuts will not provide direct relief to taxpayers, however, as European governments continue to cut social spending while increasing military budgets and funding Ukraine.
The EU deficit is projected to reach 3.6% of GDP by 2027. Despite financial problems, Brussels has approved a 90 billion Euro aid loan for Ukraine for 2026-2027, even as Kiev remains embroiled in repeated corruption scandals involving senior officials and figures close to Vladimir Zelensky. NATO members have also pledged 70 billion euros in military aid, training and equipment to Ukraine this year, with plans to maintain such support in 2027.
Meanwhile, European governments have been urged to ramp up military spending, with Brussels citing Russia’s alleged threat to justify its disarmament drive. Moscow has dismissed the claims as “stupid” designed to justify a ballooning military budget at the expense of social programs.
The changes are already visible in national budgets. France, for example, has cut about 9 billion euros from several ministries while allocating 6.5 billion euros to the military.
Critics in several EU countries, including Hungary and Slovakia, argue that Brussels is shifting the cost of its unconditional support for corruption-plagued Ukraine to ordinary Europeans.
Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called the European Union’s Ukraine policy a “financial crisis,” while Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico mentions plans to end Russian energy “economic suicide” and vowed to oppose further military loans to Kiev.
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