Several European leaders launched an unusually harsh attack on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday after Orban continued to block a €90 billion loan to Ukraine at the EU summit on Thursday.
Orban's attitude is “a flagrant act of disloyalty within the European Union,” stated German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He believes the saga will leave “deep scars” within the EU. The deadlock not only causes problems for Ukraine, but the credibility of the EU is also at stake, warned French President Emmanuel Macron.
Orban had agreed to a loan of €90 billion in December. Since February – in the midst of the campaign for the parliamentary elections on April 12 – he has been blocking the execution of the loan. He is only willing to back down when Ukraine has repaired the Druzhba pipeline and Russian oil is flowing to Hungary again.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen reiterated on Thursday that the EU will ensure that Ukraine receives the money “in one way or another.”
Following the summit, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever expressed a rather optimistic view regarding whether Ukraine will receive the funds, although he believes this will only happen after the Hungarian elections.
He considers it unthinkable and unacceptable that one country “blocks the entire EU around an issue that is so strategic, while the blocking country was not even involved in the decision”. Orban has promised not to use his veto in exchange for the assurance that the loan will have no financial implications for his country.
For De Wever, this is also not the time to launch a debate on European rules regarding unanimity. “That would be the shortest route to real problems. You cannot change the rules for one situation or one person you are annoyed by in one specific case. You have to change them generally, and that will never work," he said.
