BUDAPEST, December 21. /TASS/: Hungary proposes the European Union refrain from providing financial aid to Ukraine from the bloc’s budget for five years, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at a news conference recapping the results of the past year.
He said EU leaders will reconvene for a special summit in late January or early February to discuss amending the EU budget for 2024-2027, which provides for the allocation of 50 billion euros to Ukraine.
"This money is not available now. The European Commission says we should raise this money by borrowing and then allocate it through the budget. Hungary's position is not to give it for five years," Orban said.
The prime minister said Hungary does not want to engage in collective borrowing and go into debt along with other countries because it has not received a cent from the European Pandemic Recovery Fund, which was also filled through loans.
Another problem is that some EU countries have proposed amending the common four-year budget without any mention of Ukraine aid. He warned that Hungary does not want to sit on the sidelines and, if the situation does not change, it will make its own proposals.
At the previous EU summit in Brussels, Orban vetoed amendments to the EU budget for 2024-2027 that would provide Ukraine with 50 billion euros over that period. Hungary suggests looking for extra-budgetary sources to assist Ukraine or finding a short-term solution, say for one year, and then analyzing the situation and deciding on any further moves.
