The Hungarian government, in an announcement that is sure to anger many across the 28 member bloc, has said that it will continue to block the European Union’s plan to send an emergency aid package of €18 billion to Ukraine.
In an interview with Hungarian state-owned radio on Friday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán—despite acknowledging that the Ukrainian state requires aid so that it can continue functioning—said that he would veto the European Union’s plan to fund the aid package, arguing that the joint borrowing scheme would turn the EU into an association of indebted states, AP reports.
“The question is how to help Ukraine,” the prime minister began. “One proposal says that we should use the budgets of the EU member states to take out new loans together and use that money to give 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.”
Instead, Orbán proposed that EU member states decide for themselves the amount of financial support for which they are willing to provide Ukraine, and do so out of their national budgets.
“We will not accept the other plan, we will not consent to it, without us it will not come into being,” he added.
Previously, Prime Minister Orbán has signaled that he would consider a bilateral agreement with Ukraine that would see Hungary provide €144-169 million to Ukraine from its national budget—a sum that he noted wouldn’t harm Hungary’s national interests.
The bloc has until December 19th to make a decision on the European Commission’s proposal.
