Hungary vetoed a financial aid package to Ukraine worth 18,000 million euros on Tuesday, amplifying the confrontation between the government of far-right Viktor Orbán and the European Union. The veto occurred at the meeting of the EU economy and finance ministers.
Orbán is the European president closest to the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and most opposed to sanctions against Moscow and to helping Kyiv.
EU economic ministers also postponed any decision to penalize Hungary with withholding billions of euros for failing to implement robust rule of law reforms. Instead of unanimous support for aid to Ukraine, Hungary's veto ensured that the other 26 EU member states would need to come up with a more complicated technical plan to keep aid flowing to Kyiv next year.
“In the end, an agreement was reached on formulations that allow a flexible and fast way to deploy funds in Ukraine without fundamentally changing the way the EU manages its funds. I say deal, but it was actually a deal minus one," said Tuomas Saarenheimo, president of the EU Council's Economic and Financial Committee.
Many European governments view Orbán's evasive tactics as an attempt to blackmail the EU into releasing billions in post-pandemic recovery funds, now frozen.
