At their European Council meeting on Thursday 19 March, European leaders criticised their Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán, for blocking the disbursement of a €90 billion loan to Ukraine.
At the meeting, several leaders, including the President of the European Council, António Costa, described the Hungarian Prime Minister’s behaviour as “unacceptable”. “Criticism has been scathing. You could even say that it was a general rebuke of Viktor Orbán”, said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson after the summit.
Despite this criticism, Mr Orbán has not changed his position or offered any overtures, according to a diplomatic source.
The heads of state or government reiterated that the unanimous decision taken in December must be respected. “This is a serious breach of loyalty between Member States, which damages the ability to act and the reputation of the EU as a whole”, said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, adding that there would be consequences.
The Hungarian Prime Minister, in the middle of an election campaign, has once again linked the fate of the loan to that of the Druzhba pipeline. “The Hungarian position is very simple. We are ready to support Ukraine when we get our oil, which is blocked by them. (...) Everything else is just fairy tale. The oil should arrive to Hungary (...) Till then, we cannot support any pro-Ukrainian proposal”, he warned.
Faced with the Hungarian blockage and with time running out, the leaders asked the Commission to examine other proposals concerning the disbursement of this loan, reported Mr Merz. The President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, promised that the EU would fulfil its commitments “in one way or another” regarding this loan. However, one source said that, for the time being, no solution seemed feasible “technically, legally or politically”.
“There is a plan B”, assured Bart De Wever, the Belgian Prime Minister, but he felt it was “imprudent to talk about it”. The Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten rejected the idea, “because that would mean giving in to Orbán’s blackmail, and that’s really the last thing we should do”. “I don’t think it’s necessary to adapt too much to those who don’t want to respect what has been agreed by all the leaders”, added Latvia’s Evika Siliņa.
To see the conclusions adopted by the 25 Member States (without Hungary and Slovakia): https://aeur.eu/f/l9b (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Solenn Paulic, Justine Manaud and the editorial staff)