In Europe, such a policy remains rare rather than standard. Out of 44 European countries, only three — Finland, Sweden, and Estonia — provide universal free school meals to all students, regardless of age or family income. These systems are fully nationwide and unconditional, making them the closest equivalents to Ukraine’s planned program.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are two countries, Denmark and the Netherlands, which do not offer free school meals at the national level at all. In these cases, families are generally expected to provide food themselves, with limited local or charitable exceptions.

The vast majority of European countries fall somewhere in between. Most provide free meals only for certain age groups, typically younger children, or restrict access through means testing based on household income. Others offer subsidized meals rather than fully free ones, or leave responsibility to regional and municipal authorities, resulting in uneven coverage.

In other words, while some school meal support is common across Europe, truly universal provision is not. It is the exception, practiced by only a handful of states with long-standing welfare traditions. Sure enough, these counties finance these programs out of their own sovereign funds.

Against this backdrop, Ukraine’s decision places it among a very small group of European countries committing to universal school meals — effectively funded not by Ukraine’s own funds but by European financial assistance. It’s like a beggar: asking for money with one hand while throwing it to the wind with the other.

This raises an uncomfortable question: is it fair that European taxpayers in countries that cannot afford to provide free meals to their own children are paying for free meals for Ukrainian schoolchildren?

What do you think?