Hungary lifts veto and unlocks 50 billion euros in European aid to Ukraine

The leaders of European Union an agreement reached this Thursday to deliver 50 billion euros in aid to Ukraine over the next four years after Hungary lifted its veto on the package, according to European Council President Charles Michel.

“We have an agreement. Unity. The 27 leaders agreed on an additional €50 billion support package for Ukraine within the EU budget”, Michel announced via the social network X shortly after the start of the summit of community heads of state and government in Brussels.

MORE INFORMATION | Farmers protest with fire in front of the European Parliament in Brussels

The President of the Council celebrated that “this guarantees firm, long-term and predictable financing for Ukraine” and that with this “the EU is assuming leadership and responsibility in supporting Ukraine”. “We know what is at stake,” he wrote.

Michel’s message arrived just minutes after a summit of heads of state and government began, preceded by a meeting between the president of the European Council, Frenchman Emmanuel Macron, German Olaf Scholz and Italian Giorgia Meloni with Orbán to find a solution to the blockage.

The President of the Spanish Government later joined, Pedro Sanchez, and Belgium’s highest leaders, Alexandre De Croo, Netherlands, Marcos Rutte, and Poland, Donald Tusk.

The Hungarian ultranationalist asked for a mechanism to evaluate aid to Ukraine every year, despite it being a plan until 2027, and which had the possibility of veto in each analysis, something that the remaining partners categorically rejected.

CHECK OUT HERE | Siege of Paris: Why farmer protests are spreading across Europe

The other 26 Member States maintained the position agreed last December to include this aid in the multiannual financial framework to give it stability over the next four years and, if a unanimous agreement was not reached, they had a plan B to transfer funds to Kiev, even without Budapest’s approval.

Orbán will not be able to veto again

Finally, during the pre-summit meeting, it was agreed with Orbán that the leaders would discuss assistance to Ukraine every year at a summit and that, after two years, they could ask the European Commission to review it.

However, to carry out this review or make any changes to aid will require the approval of all member states, which means that Orbán will not be able to block the assistance package for Kiev again, as explained by several European sources.

FIND OUT MORE | Why are farmers blocking roads in more and more cities in Europe?

Furthermore, the remaining leaders agreed to include a paragraph in the conclusions document reminding that measures to block funds for attacks on the rule of law (a mechanism that currently keeps 6.3 billion blocked in Budapest) must be “proportional to the repercussions who has the violation.”

“The European Council fulfilled our priorities: supporting Ukraine, combating illegal migration, supporting European competitiveness. A good day for Europe”, celebrated the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also on the X social network.

The agreed review of the financial framework includes, in addition to aid to Ukraine, an additional 14.6 billion euros to reinforce the immigration and neighborhood lines (9.6 billion), the Solidarity and Emergency Reserve (1.5 billion ), the Flexibility Instrument (2 billion) and for strategic investments (1,500 million), as well as a phased mechanism to pay interest on debt from the recovery fund.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.