Hungary to stick to veto of EU-Ukraine aid plan, says Orban
Viktor Orban (Photo:REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/File Photo)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he will continue to oppose the European Union’s plan to provide Ukraine with an aid package worth EUR 18 billion in 2023, the Associated Press reported on Dec. 2.
Orban acknowledged that Ukraine needs help to pay for the functioning of essential services but emphasized that he would block the EU’s plan of joint borrowing to fund the package.
“The question is how to help Ukraine,” Orban said.
He said that according to one of the proposals, the EU countries should jointly take out new loans and transfer this money to Ukraine.
“We are not in favor of this because we do not want the European Union to become a community of indebted states instead of a community of cooperating member states.” he said.
Orban proposed that each of the 27 EU member states draw from their own budgets to help Ukraine through bilateral agreements.
"We will not accept the other plan, we will not consent to it, without us it will not come into being,” he said.
The Hungarian authorities have consistently advocated for the end of EU sanctions against Russia, arguing that they do not work and only harm Hungarians.
Earlier, Orban also stated that the European Union’s support for Ukraine through sanctions and military aid increases the risk of the war spreading to the territory of Europe.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Orban is playing a game with the EU, in which he is “using Ukraine as a hostage.”
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