EU plans to unfreeze €550 million for Hungary in an attempt to overcome Orban's veto on sanctions against Russia - FT
Kyiv • UNN
The European Commission plans to unfreeze approximately €550 million in EU funds for Hungary. This comes amid attempts to overcome Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's veto on imposing additional sanctions against Russia.
The European Commission plans to unfreeze about 550 million euros of EU funds for Hungary, as Brussels tries to overcome Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's veto on additional sanctions against Russia, reports the Financial Times, writes UNN.
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The bloc is under pressure from Washington to increase pressure on Moscow's economy, ending all energy imports and targeting companies in countries like India and China that buy Russian oil, amid attempts by US President Donald Trump to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine, the publication writes.
However, the bloc can only adopt new sanctions unanimously, as Hungary and Slovakia - the last remaining importers of Russian oil in the EU - have threatened to veto these measures.
EU ambassadors reportedly discussed a package of restrictive measures presented by the European Commission on Friday. This week, the European Commission stated that it would pay special attention to "cryptocurrency, banks and energy" and accelerate the bloc's phased withdrawal from Russian fossil fuel imports, scheduled for 2027.
Orban, who faces parliamentary elections next year, has repeatedly refused to reduce his country's dependence on cheap energy imports from Russia and has repeatedly delayed the adoption of sanctions against Moscow.
Brussels froze about 22 billion euros of EU funds allocated to Hungary in 2022 due to concerns about judicial independence, asylum rights, discrimination against LGBT+ people, and academic independence.
However, the European Commission, as noted, has gradually unfrozen these funds to appease Orban: in 2023, a tranche of 10 billion euros was unfrozen to force Budapest to lift its veto on aid to Ukraine. Earlier this year, the country received another 157 million euros by taking advantage of a legal loophole that allows Hungary to transfer frozen funds to other programs. This is the same loophole that Budapest is trying to use again, the publication notes.
In May, Hungary requested 605 million euros as part of a larger planned "intermediate" review of how countries spend their share of the overall EU budget.
After several months of negotiations, Brussels intends to allow Budapest to receive the overwhelming majority of the requested funds, namely about 550 million euros
The European Commission, as stated, has not yet responded to a request for comment.