The countries of the European Union have finally managed to unlock aid to Ukraine for 18,000 million dollars that had been on the table for several days, blocked by the veto of Hungary. Last night the 27 reached a preliminary agreement to clear the way, which includes a reduction in sanctions against Hungary for its corruption problems, a negotiation that some EU diplomats have branded as "blackmail" by the Viktor Orban regime. . The Hungarian Prime Minister thus takes advantage of the unanimity necessary to approve this type of agreement.
In the same negotiation, the 27 European Union partners agreed to approve Hungary's pandemic recovery plan, which entitles Budapest to 5.8 billion euros in grants. In return, the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban will have to implement a series of legislative conditions aimed at strengthening the rule of law before any money is disbursed. The approval process will conclude on Wednesday.
These agreements do not mean the end of the confrontation between Hungary and the EU, as evidenced by the 6.4 billion euros of cohesion funds allocated to Hungary that will continue to be frozen as a sanction for corruption problems, according to sources quoted by Reuters. This figure, however, is less than the 7.5 billion euros that the European Commission had previously recommended freezing. Now Budapest will have to implement a set of laws prescribed by the commission to access the funds.
The difficulties in moving forward with this aid package for Ukraine with the vote of Hungary had led the EU to seek an alternative plan that will not be necessary, at least for this time. The solution was for Brussels to capture the 18,000 million euros with debt issues guaranteed only by the EU countries and not with the community budget. In this way, the Twenty-six countries of the EU managed to circumvent the unanimity that would be required if the guarantees came from the EU budget.
Also last night it was agreed to put another 2,000 million euros on the table in an already existing fund that has been used to pay for military support to Ukraine, and which was practically exhausted after almost 10 months of war. This decision "will ensure that we have the funds to continue providing concrete military support to our partners' armed forces," said EU foreign policy officer Josep Borrell.
In the same session, the 27 approved a package of sanctions against Iran, in response to the harsh repression unleashed in the Gulf country during protests by women for their right not to wear a veil.
"With this sanctions package, we are targeting in particular those responsible for executions, violence against innocent people... these are especially the Revolutionary Guards," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
Twenty people and one entity were sanctioned with the freezing of assets and a ban on traveling to the EU.
