EU looks for ways to appease Hungary on Ukraine aid

Hungary and the European Union are continuing a feud over how to grant aid to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia. The bloc’s leaders are scheduled to meet on February 1 and it is expected that they will try to reach an agreement to send financial aid to Kyiv.

The EU’s first and preferred option is to revise its 2024-27 joint budget and assign 50 billion euros from it to Ukraine, a move that could provide Kyiv with long term financial stability.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, had already blocked this Plan A. He said that he doesn’t want to commit money for years to Ukraine as the situation on the ground is still unpredictable.

This prompted the EU to work around a second plan, sending funds via a special financial vehicle created by the member states outside of the shared EU budget. This way, individual countries will receive financial guarantees from the EU. This system was already used in 2023 to send 18 million euros to help Ukraine. At the time, Orbán also objected this solution. However, now it seems that Hungary will support a similar plan and asked for commitments to be based on gross national income, plus the aid has to be agreed annually. There is the suspicion that this way will allow Hungary to threaten a veto every time.

The whims of Orbán are making EU countries considering alternative ways to move ahead without Hungary, but a solution outside of the EU umbrella may prove complex. It may show that the other 26 countries aren’t willing to keep on with Orbán’s obstruction, but it will show that there is a rift within the EU on Ukraine, after two years of cohesion on support and funds. Also, individual support from the member states may also prove to be less stable and more expensive compared to working collectively.

The rift between Hungary and the EU on Ukraine is just the latest in a string of issues that are marring relationships with the central European country. Despite this, both EU and Hungarian officials are optimist that on Feb. 1 there will be a deal on Ukrainian aid.