Extremely bad decision and wasted money – Hungarian PM on EU loan for Ukraine

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has described the EU's decision to provide a €90 billion loan to Ukraine as "extremely bad" and said he does not want his country to have anything to do with it.

Source: European Pravda, citing The Guardian

Quote from Orbán, speaking after the EU leaders' summit, which approved the decision on financial assistance to Ukraine: "Hungary is totally out of that. I think it's a bad decision. All the others, except the Czechs and Slovaks, think that it was a good decision. I think it was an extremely bad decision, which brings Europe closer to war."

Details: According to Orbán, the arrangement "looks like a loan, but of course, the Ukrainians will never be able to pay it back."

"So it's basically lost money, and those who are behind that loan will take the responsibility and the financial consequences of that," he added.

Background:

• The European Council agreed to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion loan for 2026-2027, based on EU borrowing on capital markets and backed by EU budget reserves. However, Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia refused to take part in the scheme.
• The summit conclusions state that, thanks to enhanced cooperation on an instrument based on Article 212 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, "any mobilisation of resources of the Union budget as a guarantee for this loan will have no impact on the financial obligations of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia."

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