Hungary has vetoed the European Union’s proposed 18 billion euro financial aid package for Ukraine for 2023.
Instead of securing unanimous support for aid to Ukraine, Hungary’s veto ensured that the other 26 EU member states would have to work out a more complicated technical plan to ensure aid continues to flow to Kiev in the future.
The move also exacerbates a dispute over the country’s rule of law and Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s view of Russia’s occupation of Ukraine.
After Hungary’s decision, Tuomas Saarenheimo, chairman of the economic and financial committee of the EU Council, said that “In the end, an agreement was found on the wording that allows a flexible and fast way to distribute funds to Ukraine without fundamentally changing the way how the EU manages those funds”
“I say ‘agreement’, but in reality that agreement was minus one”, he added.
Otherwise, the 27 EU countries now have until December 19 to make a decision.