Meloni preaches ‘flexibility’ on Hungary–Ukraine tensions
Giorgia Meloni (Photo: REUTERS/Remo Casilli)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni rejected media reports
that said she supported Hungary’s
intransigence on holding up EU’s $104 billion loan to Ukraine, Meloni said on March 20.
Meloni told the Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore that a solution to the loan dispute is “possible through mutual concessions” and called media interpretations that she sided with Orban “strange.”
“I have always said this can be solved, and it requires flexibility,” the PM said.
Politico, citing five European diplomats, reported March 19 that Meloni had told a closed meeting of EU leaders she “understood the reasons” for Orban’s decision to block the EUR90 billion loan. One diplomat quoted Meloni as saying Orban’s position was “normal” given changing circumstances and that she would understand it if she were in his place.
The March 19 European Council meeting failed to convince
Hungarian PM Viktor Orban to allow the Ukraine loan to proceed as agreed back
in December 2025. Council President António Costa said Orbán’s decision to
block the loan was “unacceptable” and ran counter to the principles of EU
treaties.
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