Hungary Blocks 50 billion Euro Aid as EU Okays Start of Ukraine Membership
Hungary blocked €50bn ($55bn; £43bn) in EU aid for Ukraine just hours after reaching an agreement on starting membership talks.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced the veto for the additional funds to Ukraine shortly after Thursday’s talks in Brussels.
The EU leaders had decided to open membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova and grant candidate status to Georgia.
Hungary – which maintains close ties with Russia – has long opposed membership for Ukraine but did not veto that move.
A spokesperson for Charles Michel, President of the European council, said the agreement had been unanimous.
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EU leaders said the aid negotiations would resume early next year.
We still have some time; Ukraine will not run out of money in the next few weeks, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters as he left the talks.
We, along with the 26 countries, have reached an agreement. Victor Orban of Hungary has not yet been able to do that. I am fairly confident that we can reach a deal early next year, with our thoughts set on late January.
Rutte stated that another summit would be convened to finalize a deal. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo emphasized the vital importance of financial support.
It is just as important that Ukraine has the means to continue the war and rebuild its country, he said.
Orban had promised to block the membership talks and the funding for weeks, and the decision was a blow to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who failed this week to persuade Republican lawmakers in the United States to approve an additional $61bn for Ukraine.
Most EU leaders wanted this week’s summit to send a clear sign of solidarity with Ukraine amid perceptions, eagerly seized upon and repeated by Moscow, that allies’ support for Kyiv was waning.
