European Union (EU) leaders agreed on several compromises with Hungary to agree on €50 billion in financial support for Ukraine and prevent a veto by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Politico writes about this, citing its own sources.
The European Commission will publish an annual report on the use of financial assistance, and the European Council will hold an annual debate on the implementation of the program to make recommendations on the use of funds. Also, if necessary, after two years, the European Commission can review the costs, but for this a vote will be held.
A line referring to the conclusions of the European Council from December 2020 was also added to the draft conclusions. This will ensure that the evaluation of the rule of law in Hungary will be fair and objective.
In Brussels, these concessions are considered insignificant, since the leaders of the member states avoided a scenario in which Orban would have the opportunity to veto funding for Ukraine every year. However, Orban can herald this decision as a "victory for Hungary", saying that Hungary has achieved the inclusion of a review of aid to Ukraine.
Agreement was reached after meetings with small groups of EU leaders. Head of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen together with the leaders of France, Germany and Italy held a private meeting with Viktor Orban. They were then joined by other leaders, including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
- Today, February 1, the leaders of the EU member states unanimously agreed to provide financial support to Ukraine in the amount of €50 billion. €17 billion is direct financial aid to Ukraine, and the rest are loans that Kyiv will receive over the next four years. Ukraine expects to receive the first payment of €4.5 billion from the new aid package from the European Union as early as March 2024.