Countries — members of the European Union are considering methods to deter Hungarian President Viktor Orban from blocking support for Ukraine. In particular, EU leaders are considering the option of depriving Hungary of the right to vote in order to approve an agreement on providing a €50 billion aid package to Ukraine in 2024-2027 without its participation.
This is reported by the “Financial Times”.
Some officials in Brussels are proposing to apply the penalty procedure under Article 7 of the 2007 Treaty on European Union for violating the rule of law — this could lead to the termination of the stateʼs right to vote.
The move could be blocked by any other member state, but a change of government in Poland means Hungary is no longer guaranteed EU support. However, many countries are worried about the use of such a penalty because, in fact, it is the EUʼs most powerful weapon against a member state.
"Maybe Hungary can create more problems and force us to use several different countermeasures. However, in the end, Hungary will not be able to prevent us from providing money to Ukraine," noted a high-ranking EU official who attended the summit last week.
- On October 3, the European Parliament adopted a resolution supporting the European Commissionʼs proposals to revise the multi-year EU budget, which provides for the creation of a special Ukrainian fund in the amount of €50 billion. However, Hungary was the only country that opposed this initiative. In order to convince Orban to approve the provision of €50 billion in aid to Ukraine, the EU will hold a special summit. The President of the European Council noted that the date of the special EU summit has not yet been confirmed, but it is known that it will take place at the end of January — beginning of February.