Politico: EU able to agree on €50 billion program for Ukraine thanks to compromise with Hungary
Kyiv • UNN
European leaders consider the concessions insignificant, as they avoided a scenario in which Orban would be able to veto funding for Ukraine every year.
Thanks to a compromise with Hungary, the EU leaders managed to unblock the latest aid package for Ukraine worth 50 billion euros. This was reported by Politico, UNN with reference to three European diplomats.
Details
According to the publication's sources, European leaders managed to convince Orban with three proposals.
In particular, he was offered the European Commission's annual report on the implementation of the aid package. In addition, there will be a debate at the level of leaders on the implementation of the package.
Also, if necessary, in two years' time, the European Council will ask the European Commission to propose a revision of the new budget.
The publication emphasizes that European leaders consider these concessions insignificant, as they avoided a scenario in which Orban would be able to veto funding for Ukraine every year.
At the same time, diplomats explained that this would allow Orban to declare victory at home, saying that Hungary had achieved the inclusion of a revision of aid to Ukraine.
Addendum
The interlocutors explained that the agreement was reached after meetings with small groups of leaders. In particular, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, along with the leaders of France, Germany, and Italy, held a closed-door meeting with the Hungarian prime minister.
The meeting was then joined by other leaders, including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Kroo.
At the same time, several diplomats denied that other concessions had been made to Orbán. According to them, increased pressure from the leaders made it clear to Budapest that there is no alternative to providing money to Ukraine.
Recall
Ukraine expects to receive 4.5 billion euros out of the 50 billion provided for in the EU budget for macro-financial support as early as March this year.
