The EU is further divided between those governments supportive of Mr Scholz’s call and those anxious he will derail the European Peace Facility, which allows states to claim back for hardware sent to Kyiv, diplomats in Brussels said.
The relationship between France and Germany, the EU’s two most influential countries, was already tense after spats over energy subsidies, Chinese electric car imports and defence policy.
“A broader group of member states don’t mind Scholz urging them to do more. That urging stings for France, which hasn’t done as much. Hence Breton’s rebuke,” an EU diplomat told the Telegraph.
Germany is Ukraine’s second-largest international backer behind the US, where Joe Biden’s plans for further aid are being blocked by Republicans in Congress.
Berlin is seeking to reduce its contributions to the £20 billion European Peace Facility.
It argues its bilateral contributions to Ukraine should count against what it is expected to pay into the fund.
Germany, the EU’s largest economy, provides about a quarter of the war chest, which has provided Kyiv with €4.5 billion in weaponry and trained more than 30,000 recruits.
But it is also facing a €17 billion budget black hole after a constitutional court said moving €60 billion of unused coronavirus recovery money to Germany’s Net Zero plans was illegal.
