Hungary will continue to support kyiv bilaterally, Budapest has revealed
Hungary will not support the European Union’s efforts to jointly raise aid funds for Ukraine amid its ongoing conflict with Russia, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said.
Speaking at a conference in Sofia on Monday, Szijjarto said Budapest had directly supported kyiv as a neighbor and would continue to do so, but opposed the bloc’s joint efforts to raise funds.
“We are ready to continue financial support on a bilateral basis, based on a bilateral agreement between Ukraine and Hungary. But we will certainly not support any kind of joint EU loan in this field.” Szijarto said.
He added that Hungary had been helping its neighbor in various ways for longer than some countries that suddenly acted like kyiv. “best friends.”
Explaining the Budapest decision, the chancellor said that his country had supported the joint loan during the Covid-19 pandemic and “That was more than enough.”
Hungary has yet to receive its share of those pandemic recovery funds. The European Commission has been withholding approval for Budapest to use the funds while it assesses the country’s efforts to meet numerous rule of law requirements.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the Budapester Zeitung in October that Brussels was “openly punishing and blackmailing us with EU money.”
This week, Brussels will propose an 18 billion euro ($18 billion) aid package for Ukraine by 2023. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen briefed Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky by phone about the plan sunday.
In a statement, von der Leyen said both sides recognized the “importance of ensuring predictable and regular funding of essential state functions”. The funding will take the form of “long-term loans with very favorable conditions” that it would support kyiv’s path to EU membership.
Hungary is the only NATO member that has also stood firm in its refusal to arm Ukraine. Orban has refused to supply weapons or allow weapons to enter Ukraine through Hungarian territory. He has also refused to embargo Russian energy exports and has called for direct talks between Russia and the US to end the conflict.