Budapest is fuelling anti-Ukraine sentiment ahead of a key election.
Hungary has thrown the EU’s planned €90 billion loan to Ukraine into crisis after threatening to block the deal until the flow of Russian oil resumes through the Druzhba pipeline.
The Hungarian government issued the warning on Friday evening, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán tries to weaponize anti-Ukraine sentiment ahead of a key election where he risks losing power after more than 15 years.
“Ukraine is blackmailing Hungary by halting oil transit in coordination with Brussels and the Hungarian opposition to create supply disruptions in Hungary and push fuel prices higher before the elections,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó wrote on X. “We will not give in to this blackmail.”
Hungary’s threat to veto the loan is a major setback for Ukraine, whose coffers will begin running low on cash from April. Kyiv will struggle to sustain its war effort without fresh funds, leaving it at a disadvantage in ongoing peace talks with Russia.
wow this isn’t something that happens every single time?
Yes, and nothing is done regarding it. “Waiting until the problem goes away” is the path that the EU uses in this and most others situations. But what if it will not? Or what if will take too much time?
That would a facepalmish situation ever if Orban would be reelected this spring (and it is actually possible!)
EU doesn’t have any legal tools to deal with this situation. Hungary has veto right. So it can veto any attempt to remove its veto. (Not an expert, but that’s what I heard) But if Orban is gone, there is still Slovakia. And now my home country Czechia :(