Photo: Zoltan Mathe/MTI via APThe European Commission has proposed extending budget support to help Ukraine pay salaries and cover other costs. There are concerns that the aid could be blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
The European Union will be able to bypass any Hungarian veto and send Ukraine 50 billion euros in aid, bloc officials said, as Kiev seeks to push back the Russian military 21 months into the war.
The European Commission has proposed extending budget support to help Ukraine pay wages and cover other costs as the conflict continues, with the 27 EU member states due to vote on the package at a summit on 14-15. December in Brussels.
But there are concerns that the aid could be blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has touted his ties to Moscow and opposed similar support in the past. Such payments from the common EU budget require the unanimous support of all member states.
Asked for a comment, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said that any financial aid to Ukraine should be separated from the EU budget. He said that the EU needs a new strategy for Ukraine and that all financial decisions should stem from it.
If Budapest vetoes it, two EU officials said the bloc has a way around it by asking other EU member governments to provide their own aid package to Kiev. This would total the same amount as the originally planned package of Brussels of 50 billion euros.
"Hungary is taking too many risks." We would prefer them to be together with us, but there comes a point when people get tired of Budapest holding everyone hostage. The workaround is tedious, but we have one if needed," said one EU official.
Another EU official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, shared the same view.
"The issue of money for Ukraine will be resolved one way or another, Kyiv will receive EU support," said the official.
Last year, Hungary vetoed a similar proposal to send Ukraine 18 billion euros in financial aid in 2023.
After months of wrangling, Budapest finally agreed to the package after receiving what it said were concessions from the bloc to help Hungary, and hearing that the EU was going to use a similar solution now being mentioned anyway.
BG/Free Europe
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EU aid to Ukraine expires in December. The European Commission has promised a package of 50 billion euros over the next four years, but Hungary and Slovakia have opposed further financing of Kiev. An economic crisis would be "very, very traumatic, not only for Ukraine, but for all of Europe," Ukraine's finance minister said
