Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán confirmed in an interview with the French weekly magazine “Poin” that he is ready to soften his position on the use of the European Union budget for an aid package for Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The agency noted that the statement was made on the eve of an emergency EU summit on the matter on Thursday.
Yesterday, the chief political adviser to the Prime Minister of Hungary – Balazs Orbán, said that Hungary is open to the proposal that 50 billion euros for Ukraine be taken from the budget of the European Union. The plan is to grant this aid for a period of four years.
“Hungary is ready to participate in the general decision-making by the 27 (EU member states) if it is guaranteed that in the future we will decide every year whether to give this money or not. And this annual decision must have the same legal basis as now: it must be unanimous,” Orbán said, quoted by “Poan”.
Viktor Orbán has been an outspoken critic of EU financial and military aid to Kiev, maintaining close ties to Moscow since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago. Hungary was the only European Union country that did not approve the financial aid package for Ukraine at the summit in December.
In the interview with “Poan”, the Hungarian Prime Minister also expressed his conviction that a publication in the British “Financial Times” could be trusted. The material says that the European Union will put pressure on the Hungarian economy if Budapest continues to block new aid to Kyiv.
“After the Financial Times published a document detailing a scenario of financial blockade and blackmail of Hungary, we can be sure that such an option exists,” says Viktor Orbán.
