to updateAll 27 European government leaders unexpectedly and quickly agreed to a new €50 billion support package for Ukraine. Hungary, which had long resisted, also agreed, said Charles Michel, head of the Council of Heads of Government. “We have reached an agreement,” he wrote on X. The EU summit, which will focus on providing funds for Ukraine, had not yet officially started when Michel announced the agreement.
JAH, IHB, YAKD
Last updated:
17:19
source:
Special Reports, ANP, Belga
look. The European summit reaches an agreement on billions of dollars in aid: “This gives the credibility expected of us”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was long considered the toughest customer among EU leaders, but now the entire EU summit revolves around him. European leaders have scheduled an additional summit in Brussels to persuade Orban to finally approve billions in new aid to Ukraine.
The agreement came after a small group of leaders convinced Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to overturn his veto on financing for Ukraine. EU Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the leaders of France, Germany and Italy held a closed-door meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister.
The meeting was then expanded to include other leaders, including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as well as our own Prime Minister De Croo. Our Prime Minister is satisfied with the deal: “Continued unanimous support for Ukraine is essential for our European security,” says De Croo.
“Money allocated to Hungary does not go to Ukraine”
Orban defended the agreement in a video posted on social media, saying: “We were able to negotiate a mechanism to ensure that European funds allocated to the Hungarians, which the European Commission has not yet provided us with, do not go to Ukraine.”
More than €20 billion in European support for Hungary has been frozen because the European Commission is concerned about the state of the rule of law in the country. But it is unlikely that there is a possibility of transferring this money to Ukraine.
According to some sources, other leaders made it clear to Orban that he had gone too far in his resistance and that he should not rely on the slightest good faith to release the frozen funds. However, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen categorically denied this connection.
De Croo stressed that the agreement sometimes needs some “maturation time.” “We have left no room for disagreement between the 26 countries since the last summit,” he said, so Orban was unable to take advantage of that.
look. VTM NEWS journalist Gili Frenken: “Farmers’ concerns are discussed on the sidelines of the European summit”
Support is urgently needed
Ukraine is in dire need of the 50 billion euros that European Union leaders want to allocate in the coming years in order to save the country. According to European Union sources, the government in Kiev will face payment problems next month without aid.
But Hungary raised objection after objection and demanded at least the right to withhold aid every year. At the European Summit last December, the 27 leaders were able to use a trick to circumvent Hungarian resistance to another gesture in favor of Ukraine.
Huge demonstrations of angry farmers from home and abroad are expected in Brussels on the occasion of the European Union summit. There are currently protests in many countries. Farmers oppose, among other things, European rules.
look. In December, it was not possible to reach an agreement on aid to Ukraine
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