Hungary doubles down on Ukraine aid demands

Hungary doubled down on Thursday (18 January) on its demands for EU support to Ukraine to be reviewed annually, effectively reserving itself a veto right, as negotiations between EU member states on the issue continue ahead of a decisive 1 February summit.

“If we want to help Ukraine, let’s do it outside the EU budget and on a yearly basis! This is the only democratic position just five months before the elections,” Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote on X, referring to the European Parliament elections in June.

His proposal is in stark contrast with a recent appeal by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to provide Ukrainians with “predictable financing throughout 2024 and beyond” to help the country regain “its rightful territory”.

EU 'confident' of Hungary deal on Ukraine aid, but uncertainty remains

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a European Parliament plenary on Wednesday (17 January) she was “confident” of getting Hungary to drop its Ukraine aid veto at a decisive summit on 1 February, but Budapest’s new alliance-in-the-making could still complicate things.

Orbán’s comments came as EU ambassadors worked on finding a compromise at their regular meeting in Brussels, as pressure grows on Hungary to lift its Ukraine funding objections.

The majority of EU member states are against deciding the issue on a year-to-year basis as they believe it would deny Ukraine long-term planning ability and would effectively give Budapest the option of an ‘annual veto’.

Budapest has also made an unrelated demand about the bloc’s COVID-19 recovery funds (RRF).

On Wednesday (17 January), EU lawmakers urged the European Commission and member states to stand firm against Hungary’s nationalist leader and not to disburse the EU funds that had been frozen over rule of law concerns.

In his post, Orbán criticised “liberal” politicians for wanting “to give money to Ukraine over four years”, saying it would be “anti-democratic” to do so just ahead of the European elections in June.

In Budapest, Orbán’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas played down the chances of a breakthrough before the summit.

“The positions are far apart, so it is not certain that an agreement will be reached,” Gulyas told reporters on Thursday.

“It would not be a tragedy either,” he said, suggesting that “a 26-party solution” that did not involve Hungary was possible.

Pressure grows on Hungary to lift Ukraine funding objections

While Brussels has been working to solve the Hungarian blockade since Prime Minister Viktor Orbán vetoed the EU’s Ukraine aid package in December, the bloc’s officials now have prepared a potential compromise in exchange for dropping his veto. 

Alternative arrangements could include options to prolong the existing 2023 loan scheme for up to a year, raise common debt backed by national guarantees, or create a special financial vehicle to disburse grants, according to several EU diplomats and officials with knowledge of the discussions.

But many EU member states would prefer to avoid alternative arrangements to bypass Hungary.

While Orbán stood alone at the last EU summit in December, a question now raised in Brussels is whether he will remain alone in February as some EU diplomats fear Budapest’s new alliance-in-the-making with Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico could still complicate things.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

Read more with Euractiv

Russia hit by regional unrest over activist sentencing as Putin's elections near

South-central Russia was hit by a rare wave of civil unrest on Wednesday (17 January) as thousands of protesters gathered to take a stand after a regional court sentenced Fayil Alsynov, an indigenous rights activist for the local Bashkir ethnic group.