BRUSSELS: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday stood by his decision to veto a 50-billion-euro ($54.94 billion) EU aid package for Ukraine and said he could still halt Kyiv’s accession to the bloc after membership talks were given the green light.
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, other European Union leaders bypassed objections from Orban by getting him to leave the room while they took the historic step of agreeing to start accession negotiations with a country at war.
But they could not overcome resistance from Orban, who maintains close ties to Russia, to a revamp of the bloc’s budget to channel vital financial support to Ukraine and provide more cash for other EU priorities such as managing migration.
The breakthrough on a membership path came at a critical time for Ukraine with its counter-offensive against Russian invasion forces having failed to make major gains and with US President Joe Biden so far unable to get a $60 billion package for Kyiv through the US Congress. Orban told state radio on Friday that he had to block the aid package to Ukraine part of a broader multi-year budget plan to make sure Hungary will get the funds it wants from the EU budget.
“I have always said that if someone wants to modify the budget and they want to then it is a great opportunity for Hungary to make it clear that it must get what it is entitled to. Not half of it, or one-fourth,” he said. The EU leaders ended talks on the financial package, which requires unanimity, and said they would try again in January, with some voicing optimism a deal could be clinched then.