(VOVWORLD) - A senior advisor to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday on social media platform X that Hungary is ready to accept the European Commission (EC) using the bloc’s budget to provide 54 billion USD of aid in a package to Ukraine with some conditions.
Balazs Orban said that Budapest had sent a proposal to Brussels on Saturday showing it was open to using the EU budget for the aid package to Ukraine in the next four years if the EC accepts adding some conditions to the package. According to the advisor, the EC is looking for ways to continue pressuring Hungary even though Budapest has proposed some concessions.
Emergency financial aid to Ukraine will be high on the agenda of the EU’s Special Summit to take place this Thursday in Brussels. At the last EU Summit last year, Hungary vetoed the EU’s plan to provide 54 billion USD in aid to the Ukrainian government over the next four years. This proposal was to be funded by increasing each member country’s budget contribution and joint loans.
According to international observers, Hungary’s opposition forced the EC to consider the possibility of creating a new mechanism to aid Ukraine without Hungary’s consent.
In her recent address at the European Parliament, EC President Ursula von der Leyen, said that the last European Council has shown the political will to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.
“We have proposed to guarantee stable and substantial financing to Ukraine over the next four years, to support the daily functioning of the state, to stabilize the economy, and to bring it closer to our Union. All of this requires an updated EU budget,” said von der Leyen.
Europe is urging President Biden’s administration to provide more aid soon to Ukraine. German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz is expected to come to the US next Friday to discuss the issue.