Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has blocked €50 billion in EU aid for Ukraine after leaders side-stepped his opposition to agree to open talks with Kyiv on joining the bloc.
A European Summit in Brussels broke up on Thursday with Hungary's authoritarian leader refusing to greenlight funding that could help Ukraine's government over the next four years.
Orban called for unblocking all of the still-frozen funds from the European Union for his country before he would consider lifting his veto on further aid to Ukraine
Orban agreed to step out of the negotiating room to allow the other EU leaders to take the consensus decision without him.
But on social media he railed against the "completely senseless, irrational and wrong decision."
The wrangling injected a bitter note over the summit a day after the leaders – minus Hungary – made a historic decision to open talks on Ukraine one day joining the bloc.
Cash for Orban
Critics have accused the Hungarian leader of holding Kyiv's survival hostage in a bid to force Brussels torelease billions of euros of EU funds frozen over a rule of law dispute.
The European Commission agreed on Wednesday to unblock €10 billion of that cash. However, another €21 billion remains out of Orban's grasp.
During an interview on Hungarian state radio, he said, "This is a great opportunity for Hungary to make it clear that it should get what it deserves. Not half, then a quarter, but it must get the whole thing."
"So we want to be treated fairly, and now there is a good chance that we can assert this," he added.
Starting accession negotiations with #Ukraine is a bad decision. Hungary did not participate in the decision. pic.twitter.com/omYLSxefkI
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) December 14, 2023
Accession talks for Ukraine
The move from the Hungarian nationalist –Russia's best friend in the EU – dealt a blow to Kyiv and its backers as they celebrated the door opening to accession talks.
Still, the EU leaders hailed the move – which also agreed to launchaccession talks with Moldova – as a crucial moment.
Almost two years after Russia launched its all-out invasion, most EU leaders wanted to send a sign of solidarity with Ukraine at the summit, especially in light of the United State’s support threatened by manoeuvres in the US Congress.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who did not attend the summit, called the decision "a victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens."
The White House also called it a "historic decision".
Further EU support for Ukraine
The leaders said the bloc had agreed to a12th round of sanctions on Moscow, targeting Russia's lucrative diamond exports and aiming to tighten an oil price cap.
But the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine does not look promising for Kyiv after a summer counter-offensive failed.
On Thursday, Russian president Vladimir Putin boasted that he has 617,000 troops in Ukraine, and that their positions are improving.
Across Brussels, at NATO HQ, alliance secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg warned that the Westmust continue supporting Ukraine in order to protect the rest of Europe.
"If Putin wins in Ukraine, there is real risk that his aggression will not end there. Our support is not charity – it is an investment in our security," he said.
"If Putin wins in Ukraine, there is real risk that his aggression will not end there. Our support is not charity. It is an investment in our security," - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) December 14, 2023
"The only way to reach a just and lasting solution is to convince President Putin… pic.twitter.com/rE4v6Q3cxF
Next steps
With the topic of grants and loans to Ukraine blocked by Hungary, the 26 other EU leaders have decided to hold a fresh meeting early next year to try to reach an agreement.
Before the talks can be launched, EU states must agree on a negotiating framework – giving Orban ample opportunity to stall the process again.
