EU mulling emergency Ukraine funding to override Hungary veto – FT
(1 day later)
With Hungary poised to veto $54 billion in proposed funding, willing donors are considering other options, the newspaper says
Budapest says any cash for Kiev must come from outside of the bloc’s shared budget
Kiev’s main backers in the EU may overcome Hungarian opposition to the proposed allocation of $54 billion in long-term aid for Ukraine by providing funds outside of the bloc’s joint budget, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
European Union (EU) officials are discussing strategies to raise emergency funding for Ukraine separately from the bloc’s shared budget, after Hungary insisted it would not relent in its threat to veto a support package for Kiev, the Financial Times has reported.
The European Commission is seeking to provide the funding over the next four years through the so-called Ukraine Facility. The money is intended to help Kiev with its conflict with Russia, as well as for its reconstruction efforts.
Despite pressure from EU members – and from Kiev itself – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has insisted he will block €50 billion ($54 billion) in financial aid intended to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. Orban has argued that Western aid has not yet translated into tangible results, and that a protracted conflict will only serve to cost more lives and inflict further economic damage on the EU bloc.
Hungary, which has been highly critical of Brussels’ approach to the Ukraine crisis, has indicated that it would veto the decision during a summit of leaders on Thursday.
But ahead of an EU summit on Thursday where issues such as Ukraine funding, as well as the country’s possible accession to the EU, are to be tabled, Budapest signaled that it will not relent.
The Ukrainian government is counting on the money for its 2024 budget and has warned of “devastating consequences” if the EU comes up short, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told journalists on Monday ahead of a meeting with his European counterparts in Brussels.
“Hungary will not change its mind,” the country’s EU minister, Janos Boka, warned according to the FT on Tuesday. “We can talk about the period after the December summit with member states [but] I do not see any factor that would change our decision, which is rooted in principle.”
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishina said a failure to allocate the money would be “a failure of the entire European Union” that would impact Kiev’s chances of getting more aid from the US as well.
Boka added that “Ukraine assistance … should be created outside [the EU budget] with member state contributions.”
According to the FT, Kiev’s supporters in Brussels want to sweeten the deal for Budapest by releasing EU budget funds that were frozen due to Hungary’s perceived lapses in the rule of law and corruption.
While packages such as the one proposed by the EU require uniformity across the 27-member bloc, the FT reported on Tuesday that EU officials are seeking possible solutions to overturn Budapest’s veto. One option, the newspaper wrote, was to release bloc funds intended for Budapest that have been frozen over rule of law concerns.
The alternative is to have the other 26 members pool resources, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the talks on what one of the sources called a “plan B.” Diplomats are privately discussing “the feasibility and technical details” of such a move.
Another, the report says, is being considered in private talks and involves the other 26 EU members forming a financial package for Ukraine which would provide Kiev with emergency funding for the next year. However, the report adds that the talks are being kept secretive so as to not overrule the possibility of persuading Hungary to withdraw its veto.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged national leaders to “stubbornly support” Ukraine for the sake of bloc unity after the ministerial meeting.
“Nobody wants to do this if we don’t have to,” one EU source briefed on the talks said, according to FT. “But it would be reckless to not have a plan B.”
Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs Janos Boka told the FT that his government was not likely to change its position. He claimed that the reported consent-for-frozen-funds deal would amount to “political blackmail not from Hungary, but against Hungary” by Brussels.
Should a financial package not be agreed upon and talks stall over Ukraine’s possible European accession, it would be a “failure of the whole EU,” Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Olga Stefanishyna, said on Monday.
However, he added that it was feasible for assistance outside of the EU budget to be provided. This would involve “member state contributions, mutual member state guarantees, a much shorter planning period of one year instead of four years,” and would be “under the clear political leadership of the member states.”
Budapest has argued that the tens of billions of dollars and euros poured into Ukraine by Western donors have failed to end the bloodshed. Nations should instead pressure Kiev and Moscow into peace talks, the Hungarian government believes.
Russia says Ukraine’s uncompromising position and refusal to accept the reality on the ground is standing in the way of resolving the crisis. Moscow wants its neighbor to be “neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-free” as well as respectful of the rights of its ethnic Russian minority, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week.
