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Hungary is considering stopping the block on 50 billion euros worth of financial aid to Ukraine, which it vetoed in December. However, the prerequisite is the gradual disbursement of financial aid, while every year all bloc states must unanimously agree on the continuation of financial aid. According to critics, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants to force the Union’s annual concessions towards Hungary, under the threat that he will otherwise not agree to the continuation of financial aid.
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Description: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
In December, Hungary was the only country to veto 50 billion euros in financial aid to Ukraine that was supposed to keep Kiev’s budget until 2027. After the veto at the summit, other governments pressured Orbán to give in, especially since American financial aid to Ukraine is also at stake. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said reaching an agreement, which requires the support of all EU governments, was a “top priority”.
According to the Brussels-based daily Politico, Hungary presented a compromise offer at a meeting of EU-27 budget officials last week. According to three EU diplomats, Budapest signaled that it could approve the financing if all the bloc’s states had to unanimously confirm that a cash injection would be given every year.
“The budget issue was also discussed by some EU heads of state and government and Orbán at the memorial event for former Commission President Jacques Delors in Paris on Friday,” said one of the EU diplomats.
In practice, Hungary’s proposal would give Orbán the power to block EU funding to Ukraine every year – or force Brussels to make concessions to override his veto. In this way, Orbán achieved the release of around 10 billion euros for Hungary at the end of the year, which had been frozen due to violations of the rule of law.
Hungary has proposed that the EU provide Ukraine with 12.5 billion euros in grants and loans annually, according to a diplomat familiar with Friday’s negotiations. According to the Commission’s original proposal, the 50 billion euros by 2027 was made up of 17 billion euros in grants and 33 billion euros in extra-budgetary loans.
Diplomats from several EU capitals have spoken out against the plan, saying an annual solution would deprive Ukraine of sufficient predictability. “The MFF (EU seven-year budget) is a multiannual framework, we cannot do it year by year,” an EU official said. EU ambassadors will discuss the plan next week.
The aim is an agreement on the basis of which Hungary will lift its veto on financial aid to Ukraine. If this does not happen, the EU executive is reportedly preparing a backup plan to overcome Budapest’s intransigence and continue to provide money to Ukraine without Hungary’s contribution, which the Hungarian side welcomes.
“Hungary welcomes the fact that the European Commission is making good progress in developing Plan B, which envisages funding for Ukraine from resources outside the EU budget. “What they see as Plan B was Plan A for Hungary,” the Hungarian diplomat said.
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Ukraine (war in Ukraine)
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Author: Jakub Makarovic
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