Hungary offered to split the aid package for Ukraine from the European Union. Itʼs about the total amount of €50 billion, which the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants to cut in half.
"Bloomberg", citing a source, reports that there is a consensus in the EU on providing support to Ukraine, but Hungary is trying to block the decision.
Last week, Hungary informed the EU member states that "for now, €25 billion will be enough for Ukraine to agree." Brussels planned a program to support Ukraine in the amount of €50 billion — payments are calculated for 2024-2027.
According to the sources, Budapest wants the EU "halfway" through this payment period to assess when another €25 billion can be provided to Ukraine based on needs.
- On October 3, the "Financial Times" wrote that the European Commission is preparing to allocate €13 billion from EU funds for Hungary, which are currently frozen. This is partly due to the desire to win Orbánʼs support on the budget increase (Orbán has vowed not to agree to any increase in the EU budget until the money for Budapest is unfrozen).
- In December 2022, the EU froze €22 billion of Hungary after deciding that it was not complying with rules on human rights protection and the rule of law.