BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST, Nov. 10 ( Reuters )- As Kyiv struggles to thwart Russia’s invasion 21 months into the war, officials in the bloc said that the European Union will be able to get around any Hungarian veto and give Ukraine 50 billion euros ($ 53. 4 billion ) in aid.
The 27 member states of the EU are scheduled to vote on the proposal at a summit in Brussels on December 14–15. The bloc’s executive has suggested increasing budget support to help Ukraine paid salaries and cover other expenses as the issue continues.
However, some care that Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has emphasized his ties to Moscow and previously objected to comparable help, may block the aid. For payments from the common EU funds require unanimity of all participant state.
When asked for comment, Zoltan Kovacs, a spokeswoman for the Hungarian state, responded that the EU budget should not be included in any financial assistance to Ukraine. He asserted that all financial decisions should be based on the EU’s need for a new plan for Ukraine.
Two EU leaders said the union had a way to get around it by asking each of the other Union institutions to set up their personal support package with Kyiv if Budapest does use its veto. The diplomatic contracts may amount to the same thing all together.
Hungary runs the risk of going too far. There comes a time when people get tired of Budapest holding all hostage, even though we’d like to have them on table. The solution is tedious, but we can use it if necessary, according to a EU standard.
A minute EU official, who also spoke under the stipulation of secrecy, concurred. According to the official,” The funds problem for Ukraine will be resolved in some way, and Kyiv will receive EU help.”
THOUSANDS AT Interest
Related proposals to provide Ukraine with 18 billion dollars in financial aid in 2023 were vetoed by Hungary next year.
Budapest eventually agreed to the deal after weeks of wrangling after gaining what it claimed were concessions from the union regarding aid to Hungary and learning that the EU may still use a similar workaround to get it through.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the Western Trade Commissioner, was questioned this week about whether the EU would resume that course of action if necessary.
” Last time, we were in fact talking about” Plan B.” But last year, we were able to prevent this. I’m hoping I can prevent this situation this year as well.
Orban, who has been in power for more than ten years, and other members of the EU have been engaged in extremely acrimonious disagreements over issues like LGBT rights, immigration, foreign policy, or democratic standards.
The decision to begin EU accession negotiations with Kyiv, a prized victory for Ukraine as it battles Russia, is expected in December, so under EU rules, the technique of avoiding Hungary cannot be used.
Given Orban’s position on the battle, that decision requires uniformity of the 27 EU people, which is far from certain. Orban expressed his opposition to starting account conversations with Kyiv in a separate speech on Friday.
He added that there was no connection between that incident and his disagreements over Hungary’s suspension of billions of dollars in EU funds due to concerns about politics.
In an effort to get Orban’s support for Ukraine, EU officials told Reuters next month that they were considering unlocking at least some of that money. However, the authorities insisted that Budapest would still need to satisfy the requirements.
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Jan Strupczewski provided more investigating, Gabriela Baczynska wrote, Andrew Heavens and Toby Chopra edited.
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