The President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen wants to reach an agreement on new aid for Ukraine as quickly as possible. This is what she said on Friday, as quoted by Politico.
The question for the package of 50 billion euros for Ukraine was commented on the occasion of the start of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, following the summit in December, at which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked the approval of new European funds for Ukraine.
“Following the historic decision to open accession talks with Ukraine, we must urgently move forward to stabilize our financial assistance to the country,” von der Leyen said. She also criticized Russia’s “brutal” airstrikes on civilian targets in Ukraine.
Scholz “brought out” Orban in order not to vote against Ukraine in the EU
A strange decision, which, however, turned out to be completely legal
The Commission President acknowledged what EU leaders were already proposing right after the European Council in December – that Orbán may have to be bypassedto get new aid to Kiev.
The agreement between The 27 EU member states is “the first priority, she said. But of course, we must also prepare for other possibilities. There are operational solutions that we are currently preparing.”
Orban has no reason to block Ukraine’s EU membership, Zelensky is convinced
The Ukrainian leader hopes for a constructive meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister
The commission will present these decisions of the European Council. If EU leaders reach a budget compromise on February 1, the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU will smooth out the technical details with EU countries.
The European Union (EU) is preparing a backup plan for providing financial assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 20 billion euros. This was reported at the end of December by the Financial Times (FT), citing its sources.
The main advantage of this scheme is that it does not require the consent of all EU members and therefore eliminates the risk from a new veto from Budapest. Some countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, would need parliamentary approval to give such guarantees. The disadvantage of this plan is that the allocation of funds it will only be possible in the form of loans, not grants.
Orban accepted the invitation to see Zelensky
Breakthrough in Ukraine-Hungary relations
The decision on this plan can still be made at the summit on 1 February, with Brussels hoping the funds will arrive in Kyiv by March 2024.
In late December, Orbán said he had accepted an invitation to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “at some point in the future”. If it takes place, it will be the first official bilateral meeting between the two leaders since the beginning of the war.
Zelensky assured that he never spoke with Orban for a ceasefire or for dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
2024-01-05 19:40:27
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