EU denies plans for economic sanctions against Hungary because of Ukraine, media says

The European Union has not confirmed the information by the Financial Times on the development of a plan to sabotage Hungary's economy if the country's Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, vetoes the allocation of €50 billion euros in funding to Ukraine.

Source: Interfax Ukraine news agency, citing an anonymous EU official, as reported by European Pravda.

Quote: "This is an actual document that does not reflect the status of the ongoing negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) between representatives of EU member states and at the EU leaders' level. 

The note does not outline any specific plan regarding the MFF and the Ukrainian Fund, nor does it present any plan concerning Hungary. 

The official said that negotiations on the MFF are ongoing and have always been based on finding a compromise acceptable to all 27 EU member countries."

Background:

• The Financial Times reported that EU leaders were supposedly ready to publicly declare a complete halt to any financing for Hungary, aiming to alarm the markets, trigger turmoil in the national currency (forint), and cause a sharp increase in borrowing costs.
• On 26 January, an EU official stated that negotiations for approving a four-year financial aid program of €50 billion to Ukraine are complicated as Hungary keeps its rigorous stance ahead of the summit on 1 February.
• Before that, Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that Hungary would withdraw its objections to creating a military aid fund for Ukraine with an annual budget of €5 billion, paving the way for an agreement to modernise the mechanism aimed at the stable supply of weapons to Kyiv.

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