Von der Leyen promises solution for blocked Ukraine aid
"We are, of course, working very hard to achieve a result where there is agreement among the 27 member states," von der Leyen continued. "But I think that it is now also necessary to work on possible alternatives in order to have an operational solution in the event that an agreement with 27 is not possible unanimously."
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban had not given up his opposition to the release of the 50 billion euros in aid at the summit of the 27 heads of state and government. The negotiations were therefore broken off on Friday night. Another summit is to be held at the beginning of next year.
Orban had initially suggested that the Ukraine aid should not be included in the EU budget, but this did not meet with much approval from the other 26 summit participants. However, resistance to this is crumbling. "It is possible for 26 member states to make the money available on a bilateral basis, not via the multi-year budget," said Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar after the summit. However, this would not be his preferred solution.
EU Council President Charles Michel was "extremely confident and optimistic that we will be able to fulfill our promises to support Ukraine with financial resources". German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also expressed his "confidence that we will reach an agreement in January". Scholz rejected Orban's demand to release the EU funds frozen due to rule of law violations in Hungary in return for giving up his veto. This "cannot be mixed up".
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Source: www.stern.de
