A second attempt to enact a 50 billion euro ($54 billion) amendment to the bloc’s budget that will assist support Ukraine over the next four years is the main focus of the European Union’s pivotal summit on Thursday.
At the usual conference in December of last year, Hungary blocked that modification as well as 20 billion euros ($22 billion) in military aid to Ukraine for the year 2024.
By giving Prime Minister Viktor Orban the chance to obstruct a continuation of the funding next year, when the EU would reevaluate whether Ukraine still fits the standards to receive the money, the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, is apparently aiming to win over Hungary. By Sunday, the Financial Times revealed that the EU also intended to undermine Hungary’s economy in the event that it declined to comply, which altered the tone of the conciliation process. The plan’s specifics were kept under wraps, but the EU is powerful.
Roughly 90% of Hungary’s exports are purchased on its domestic market. The EU is withholding 30 billion euros ($32 billion) in aid to Hungary, 30% of which it had promised to release last December when Orban left the room where the other 26 heads of state voted to grant official candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.
On Monday, Orban’s political director stated that Hungary was prepared to think about collaborating, and on Tuesday, Orban is claimed to have corroborated this in statements made to Le Point. EU officials stated that an agreement was still up in the air.
Meanwhile, the US Senate Republicans sympathetic to presidential candidate Donald Trump continued to block a $60 billion aid package to Ukraine, allegedly demanding a compromise on border security with Mexico from President Joe Biden’s administration.
