Italian PM says her remarks on Orbán's stance on Ukraine were misinterpreted

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said media reports misrepresented her comments about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's position on blocking a loan to Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda, citing comments Meloni made after a European Council meeting on 19 March

Details: Meloni stressed that much of the discussion during the meeting had focused on Hungary's blocking of a €90 billion loan for Ukraine.

She also said she finds it strange how her "understanding" of Orbán's position had been interpreted in media reports the previous day.

Meloni said she has come across what she described as rather odd interpretations of her remarks and is therefore happy to clarify what she actually said. She stated that she believes the situation could be resolved and that flexibility from both sides is needed to achieve this. In her view, the Druzhba pipeline needs to resume operations, after which the €90 billion loan will be automatically unblocked.

Background:

• The day before, Politico, citing sources, reported that Meloni had told fellow EU leaders at the summit that she understood why Orbán had broken his word and blocked the loan to Ukraine. The Italian government later denied those reports.
• As previously reported, EU leaders discussed granting Ukraine a €90 billion EU loan on 19 March but failed to persuade Orbán to lift his veto.
• On the sidelines of the European Council meeting in Brussels, Orbán said Hungary will not lift its veto on decisions favourable to Ukraine until the Druzhba pipeline resumes transporting Russian oil.

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