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EU leaders have vowed to find a way to support Ukraine after Hungary’s Viktor Orbán vetoed a jointly-funded €50bn lifeline for the war-torn country.
A two-day summit concluded in Brussels on Friday with no agreement on new cash for Kyiv, but leaders expressed confidence that a solution could be found in January, when an emergency summit is scheduled in the hope of bringing Orbán on board or forcing the package of support through without his backing.
The bloc’s largest members are pushing for rapid legal work on alternatives in case Orbán persists in his opposition to fund Ukraine from the common budget, including a way for Budapest to contribute after a fund is created by the 26 other member states, officials familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.
Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said earlier on Friday that “Ukraine will not be left without support” and that there was a “strong will” among the other member states to deliver the necessary aid. Belgian PM Alexander De Croo also reassured Kyiv that “we will be there to support you, we need to figure out a few details”.
EU officials said that the bloc’s net contributors were on board with the proposed €50bn in grants and loans for Ukraine over the next four years. But despite overnight talks that went on into the early hours of Friday Orbán refused to budge, even as he relented in his opposition to starting membership talks with Kyiv.
The sense of urgency for the EU to find a solution is amplified by the US Congress’s repeated failure to approve a $60bn aid package proposed by the White House. On Thursday, Congress agreed to the much smaller sum of $300mn as part of a wider military spending bill as negotiations over the larger package drag on.
Balázs Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister’s political director, who is no relation, said Budapest would only agree to using the EU budget for Kyiv if the EU agreed to release further funding to Budapest which has been frozen because of concerns over the rule of law.
“We don’t get our money. Why would we have any further (financial) facility?” he said.
He also said other EU member states had been “blackmailing Hungary for years” by withholding cash. On Wednesday the European Commission agreed to release €10bn of funding to Hungary but €20bn remain blocked.
However, Budapest could contribute to a fund outside the budget that lasted less than four years, the Hungarian official said. “Hungary is not against supporting Ukraine financially outside the budget, for a lot shorter period of time” and with “some recommendations”.
Estonia’s Kallas warned that a solution among the 26 would take more time to deliver. “We are all democracies and democracies take time, but Ukraine does not have the time,” she said.
Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said a “workaround” could be crafted.
“We still think it’s possible to get an agreement among the 27, we will try to get to that space in the new year,” Varadkar said. “A bit of time and space over the Christmas period may help.”
Despite vocal opposition before the summit, Hungary’s premier did allow leaders to approve the start of EU accession talks with Ukraine by leaving the room during the vote. Orbán said on Friday he did so because there were still ample opportunities to veto Kyiv’s accession process in the years to come.
“It was necessary to send this political signal to our friends in Ukraine,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said. “Of course this is only the first page of (a) very long process.”
Additional reporting by Marton Dunai in Budapest
