Orban: EC prepares ‘plan B’ for Ukraine financing by 1 February summit
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on social network X that the European Commission is preparing a “plan B” to allocate aid to Ukraine outside the EU budget for an extraordinary community summit on 1 February, and noted that Budapest welcomes such a decision.
“It is good to see that the European Commission is preparing a “plan B” for 1 February, according to which financial support provided to Ukraine can be provided outside the EU budget. This is a good decision! “The European Commission’s ‘plan B’ is Hungary’s ‘plan A’!” – Orban wrote on social media X.
Earlier, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said that the EC was preparing alternative options for EU financial assistance to Ukraine in case negotiations on the allocation of such funds from the pan-European budget failed. The British Financial Times newspaper quoted sources as saying that the EU was preparing a contingency plan to help Ukraine by up to 20bn euros by building up its debt, which would circumvent Orban’s blockades.
At a summit in Brussels in mid-December, Hungary vetoed an increase in the EU’s multi-year budget for 2024-2027, including 50 billion euros in macro-financial aid to Kiev. European Council President Charles Michel told reporters after the summit that he expects EU leaders to be able to unanimously approve financial aid to Ukraine in early 2024. The next extraordinary EU summit is scheduled for 1 February.
Hungary has blocked most of the EU’s decisions on Ukraine, including an eighth tranche of 500 million euros in military aid, 5 billion euros from the European Peace Facility for military support in 2024, a wider package of 20 billion in military aid over four years, and 50 billion in macro-financial assistance for 2024-2027.