Orban blocks EU aid to Ukraine

EU summit - Orban blocks EU aid to Ukraine

At the EU summit in Brussels, Hungarian head of government Viktor Orban caused frustration and anger after surprisingly giving in to EU accession negotiations with Ukraine.

Due to a veto by the Hungarian, the other heads of state and government were unable to approve a 50 billion euro financial aid package for Ukraine during the night as planned. The negotiations must therefore now be continued in January.

EU Council President Charles Michel said: "We will come back to this issue early next year and try to reach unanimity." Meanwhile, Orban celebrated his "veto against additional money for Ukraine" and against the EU's multi-annual financial planning on the Internet portal X. It will be discussed again next year "after proper preparations", he wrote via his "Nem" (Hungarian for no).

Budget plans are on ice

At the summit, it had actually been decided to earmark 17 billion euros in grants and 33 billion euros in loans to support Ukraine over the next four years. There were also plans to adjust other areas of the long-term EU budget from 2021 to 2027. At the request of countries such as Italy, there is also to be additional money for industrial competitiveness and migration policy. However, these plans are also affected by Hungary's veto for the time being.

Orban had already criticized the EU Commission's proposals for revising the long-term budget before the summit as "unfounded, unbalanced and unrealistic". However, the other heads of state and government had hoped until the end that they would be able to persuade him to agree with offers of compromise.

Procedural trick in the dispute over accession talks

There had previously been an unexpected breakthrough on another issue. Orban surprisingly made it possible to approve the start of accession negotiations with Ukraine by not taking part in the decisive vote. According to outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz showed him the way. Hungary was thus able to stick to its no to the accession negotiations without blocking them.

The fact that Orban did not allow a decision to be made on the financial issues may have been due to the fact that this could cost his country a lot of money. The decision to start EU accession negotiations, on the other hand, is only symbolically very important, as Ukraine's actual accession before 2030 is considered impossible.

No threat of financial problems for the time being

Selensky did not initially comment on Orban's veto last night. He had previously described the decision to start EU accession negotiations as a success for Ukraine and Europe as a whole. "A victory that motivates, inspires and strengthens," the head of state wrote on the short message service X.

"This step will be followed by the next," he said in a video address from Lviv early this morning. "It is a big task to integrate the state, all institutions, all norms - everything into the European Union. But we will manage it." Ukraine has repeatedly proven what it is capable of, he said. "The time will come when we can celebrate Ukraine's accession to the EU."

According to diplomats, the lack of agreement on new financial aid will not cause Ukraine any difficulties until the next EU summit in January. Plans are already being drawn up to organize support outside of the EU budget. Orban would then no longer be able to block this.

Agreement on new Russia sanctions

Another success of the first day of the summit was the agreement on a new package of sanctions against Russia. It provides for the introduction of an import ban on diamonds and a tightening of the price cap on Russian oil exports to third countries, which has hardly had any effect recently. Trade restrictions are also planned for other goods as well as punitive measures against individuals and organizations that support the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

In contrast to the UK, the EU has not yet imposed an import ban on diamonds from Russia. For a long time, this was mainly due to resistance from Belgium, where the Flemish port city of Antwerp has been one of the most important diamond centers in the world since the 16th century. Russia, in turn, is considered the world's largest producer of rough diamonds. In 2021, the state diamond miner Alrosa had revenues of 332 billion roubles (around 3.41 billion euros).

In addition to the economic sanctions, according to EU information, sanctions are planned against more than 100 other individuals and organizations that support the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. They would then no longer be able to dispose of assets held in the EU. The individuals concerned would also no longer be allowed to enter the EU. They are said to come from the Russian military, defense and IT sectors, for example.