Feb 1, 2024 at 11:36 AM Update: 17 minutes ago
All 27 European government leaders have unexpectedly quickly agreed to a new support package of 50 billion euros for Ukraine. Hungary, which has long been resistant, has also agreed, reports Chairman Charles Michel of the Council of Heads of Government. “We have a deal,” he writes on X.
The EU summit, which was supposed to focus on money for Ukraine, had not yet officially started when Michel reported the deal. The leaders of the three largest EU countries, the President of the European Commission and Michel discussed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in advance.
Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte is “extremely happy with the just reached agreement on support for Ukraine”, he reports on X from Brussels. As far as Rutte is concerned, the EU’s message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is “crystal clear: Ukraine is assured of our support, now and in the future”.
Tensions had risen high before the scheduled summit in Brussels. Orbán has often been obstructive when it comes to support for Ukraine, but he has always made amends at the last minute, with or without concessions.
Last December, the EU summit got off to a flying start. Then there was an unexpected agreement on opening accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. That seemed to be the biggest challenge in advance, because Hungary seemed to be planning to block it.
Aid to Ukraine will soon be scrutinized more often
But Prime Minister Orbán reserved real resistance until the negotiations on the increase in the EU budget. The other 26 EU countries wanted, among other things, to allocate another 17 billion euros in grants and 33 billion in favorable loans for Ukraine over the next four years.
Orbán was not unwilling to do so, but wanted to arrange this outside the EU budget. “Then it has our support,” the prime minister said in December. EU officials already put forward that idea as a plan B in November.
Before Thursday’s summit, the Hungarian Prime Minister demanded the option to block aid every year with a veto, but the others did not want that. It has now been agreed that the aid will be regularly reviewed, EU diplomats say. Hungary does not get a veto.
2024-02-01 10:36:01
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