The EU is ready to make concessions to Hungary in order to unlock 50 billion euros for Ukraine – FT

The European Commission is ready to accept some of Hungary’s demands in order to overcome its veto on a support package for Ukraine in the amount of 50 billion euros.

This is reported by the Financial Times with reference to unnamed high-ranking officials, informs “European Truth”.

According to the interlocutors of the publication, in order to convince Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to lift the veto, the European Commission is ready to grant Budapest the right in 2025 to assess whether Ukraine still needs money and whether it has fulfilled the requirements for receiving EU aid.

As the publication notes, in fact, Orban will have the right to veto aid to Ukraine in 2025.

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The European Commission is also not opposed to annual aid checks and the addition of an “emergency suspension” clause, according to which any country can bring serious concerns about payments to Ukraine for discussion at a summit of EU member states’ leaders. However, this will not give Hungary an additional opportunity to impose a veto, the article says.

Asked if this would be enough for Orbán to lift his veto, the Hungarian official said: “I don’t know yet. I’m not sure yet, but most likely yes.”

According to the source, Hungary is “attuned to negotiations”.

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The publication notes that concessions to Hungary are a better idea than alternative arrangements that require more complex mechanisms to bypass Budapest.

Among them, in particular, the extension of existing lending for one year, the involvement of joint debt secured by national guarantees, or the creation of a special financial mechanism for the payment of grants.

All these options can be implemented without the participation of Hungary, but they are more expensive and require more time to create and allocate funds to Ukraine.

In turn, Kyiv insists on the need to receive aid in March at the latest, to avoid having to resort to printing money to finance expenses.

Hungary declareswhich can lift its veto on an aid package from the EU to Ukraine in the amount of 50 billion euros, provided that the funding is reviewed every year.

Recently, permanent representatives of the member states of the European Union reached a partial agreement regarding the decision that should unlock the allocation of 50 billion euros to Ukraine over the next four years.

European truth