EU ready to make concessions to Hungary to unlock €50 billion for Ukraine – FT

The European Commission is ready to accept some of Hungary's demands in order to overcome its veto of a €50 billion support package for Ukraine.

Source: Financial Times, citing unnamed officials, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The newspaper's sources indicated that the European Commission was ready to give Budapest the right to assess whether Ukraine still needed money and whether it had fulfilled the requirements for EU aid in 2025 to persuade Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to lift his veto.

The FT noted that Orbán will, in fact, have the right to veto aid to Ukraine in 2025.

The European Commission is also not opposed to annual aid reviews and the addition of an "emergency brake" clause, according to which any country can raise critical concerns about payments to Ukraine for discussion at a summit of EU leaders. However, the article says this will not give Hungary an additional opportunity to veto the bill.

When asked whether this would be enough for Orbán to lift his veto, the Hungarian senior official replied: "Still uncertain, but I say most probably yes."

The source said the Hungarians "are in a negotiating mood".

The newspaper reported that concessions to Hungary are better than alternative arrangements requiring more complex mechanisms to bypass Budapest.

These include, in particular, extending the existing loan for one year, raising joint debt backed by national guarantees, or creating a special financial mechanism to pay grants.

All of these options could be implemented without Hungary's involvement, although they are costlier and would take longer to set up and disburse funds to Ukraine.

For its part, Kyiv insists that it needs to receive the aid by March at the latest to avoid having to resort to printing money to finance its expenditure.

Hungary says it may lift its veto on the €50 billion EU aid package to Ukraine, provided that the funding is reviewed annually.

The permanent representatives of the EU member states recently reached a partial agreement on a solution that should unlock the disbursement of €50 billion to Ukraine over the next four years.

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