“We have such a leader in the EU…”: Hungary vetoes European loan to Ukraine

EU Foreign Ministers failed to agree on the 20th package of sanctions on Russia. “It’s a setback.”

In December, European Union leaders (UE) gave the political green light to finance with joint debt a loan of 90 billion euros to Ukraineguaranteed by the community budget, a plan already supported by the European Parliament.

Last Wednesday, the Hungary ea Slovakia announced that they have activated their emergency oil reserves due to the disruption of Russian oil supplies since the end of January due to these attacks.

The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, announced on Sunday that it will block the European Union loan of 90 billion euros to Ukraine until Kiev resumes the transit of Russian oil to Hungary.

“As long as Ukraine blocks the oleoduto Druzhba, Hungary will block the Ukrainian war loan of 90 billion euros”, he stated in a brief message on the social network Facebook.

“They can’t blackmail us!” said the ultranationalist prime minister, considered one of the community leaders closest to Moscow, along with his counterpart Robert Fico, from Slovakia.

The Hungarian Government argued that the Druzhba pipeline, which stopped working after a Russian attack, is already in a position to resume transporting Russian oil to Central Europe and accused Kiev of delaying it “for political reasons”.

No deal

Also this Sunday, the Hungarian Foreign Minister announced that he would block the adoption of the 20th package of European sanctions against Russia due to the interruption of deliveries of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline.

“We will block this decision,” declared Peter Szijjarto in a Facebook message. “As long as the Ukrainians do not allow the supply of oil to Hungary, we will not authorize the adoption of important decisions for them”, warned the official.

This Monday, EU foreign ministers they didn’t reach an agreement on the 20th package of sanctions on Russia, announced the head of diplomacy of the 27, who acknowledged that it was “a reverse”.

“Unfortunately, we did not reach an agreement on the 20th sanctions package. It is a setback and a message we did not want to send today, but the work continues”, said Kaja Kallas at a press conference at the end of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

“AND really regrettable,” analyzed Kaja Kallas, at the end of a meeting of Foreign Affairs ministers, on Monday. “It’s not really in line with the sincere cooperation clause that we have in the (EU) treaties.”

Hungary actually applied a double veto: prevents loans to Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia. Unanimity among the 27 is needed to move forward with these measures.

However, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy highlighted that this is not the first time that Hungary has blocked decisions to support Ukraine and recalled that, in the past, despite this veto, the EU always managed to “find solutions together”.

“That’s why we are doing awareness work at different levels with our Hungarian and Slovak colleagues to move forward with this package. Of course it’s not easy, it’s never easy, but the work continues,” he said.

Costa Order

Antonio Costa “strongly” urged the Prime Minister of Hungary to unblock the loan to support Ukraine worth 90 billion euros, recalling the decision of European leaders.

The President of the European Council highlighted: “A decision taken by the European Council must be respected. When leaders reach a consensus, they are bound by the decision and any failure to comply with this commitment constitutes a violation of the principle of loyal cooperation”, wrote António Costa, in a letter sent to Viktor Orbán.

One day before marking the fourth year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Kiev, the president of the European Council “vehemently” urged the Hungarian head of government “to act in accordance with the common decision of December 18 and to unblock the implementation of the support loan to Ukraine worth 90 billion euros”.

“No Member State can be authorized to compromise the credibility of the decisions taken collectively by the European Council”, warned Antonio Costa, further demonstrating that he is “fully committed to safeguarding the energy security of all Member States”.

“Contempt”

It’s “another episode of this soap opera. It’s been like this over the years”, begins by analyzing historian Bruno Cardoso Reis.

“We have a leader within the European Union, Orbán, who justifies Russia’s actions more which shows some kind of solidarity with its allies, with the other Member States of the European Union, not to mention Ukraine”, he analyzes, on the radio.

Bruno Cardoso Reis recalls that Orbán often says that Ukraine is not part of the European Union. “That’s true. But there is a vast majority of European Union countries that consider Russia to be the biggest threat to their security. And the Hungary despises these priorities of European partners”.

Power suspension

The Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, announced this Monday the suspension of the supply of emergency electrical power to Ukraine, due to the interruption of Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory.

“The suspension [do fornecimento de energia elétrica à Ucrânia] will be lifted as soon as oil transit to Slovakia is re-established. If not, we will take other reciprocal measures,” he added.

Fico also threatened to reconsider his “so far constructive positions on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union” if Ukraine “continues to harm the interests” of Slovakia.