The European Union (EU) is preparing to unfreeze around 13 billion euros ($13.66 billion) worth of funds for Hungary to prevent Prime Minister Viktor Orban from vetoing the next batch of aid for Ukraine.
Orban and his conservative government in Hungary have long been opponents of the mainstay EU policy on Ukraine and the Russian special military operation in the country. He has also persistently criticized Kyiv and stood against policies that could have escalated the conflict in the eyes of Moscow, warning about potentially stumbling blindly into a World War III scenario with Russia on one side and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on the other. (Related: Hungarian foreign minister: EU smears advocates of Kyiv-Moscow peace talks as spies, Kremlin propagandists.)
"The Third World War could be knocking on our door, so we have to be very careful," he said during one interview. Now, Orban looks like he is leveraging his opposition to potentially prolonging the conflict in Ukraine.
The European Commission – the main executive body of the EU – requires the unanimous backing of all member-states to update the EU's long-term budget to include a $50 billion funding pot for Ukraine. Without Orban's and Hungary's assent to amending the budget, current EU aid for Ukraine will run out by December.
Orban has already noted that Hungary will not support further funding to Ukraine, with his main opposition being concerns over the rights of Hungarian minorities in the country and a demand that a 2017 law that banned children up to a certain age from being taught in a language other than Ukrainian be repealed.
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EU keeping billions of euros worth of Hungarian money hostage in exchange for "reforms"
A senior EU official told Reuters that the bloc expects to look at the status of the frozen funds if it really wants to push through with providing more aid to Ukraine. These funds were originally frozen when Orban passed a law that, in the eyes of Brussels, restricted the independence of Hungary's judiciary.
"I can't imagine Hungary agreeing without there first being a solution to the blocked funds," said the official. Another official confirmed that the release of the 13 billion euros is linked to preventing a veto on more Ukraine aid.
These same officials however noted that the deal is not a foregone conclusion, and Brussels believes it still has leverage over Orban, whose country is facing economic stagnation and a widening budget deficit that could be remedied with the frozen funds.
"Hungary needs the money urgently, which is an incentive for reform. The Commission needs Hungary to lift its vetoes on a number of issues in return," said one E.U. diplomat. "But I don't think the Commission will or can move without any movement on reforms from Budapest.
Hungary earlier this year passed measures meant to strengthen judicial independence, which resulted in the European Commission releasing 22 billion euros ($23.15 billion) in frozen funding. As the E.U. diplomat who spoke to Reuters noted, Orban is hesitant to pass more so-called reforms to make the country better align with EU values and will try to press the issue of aid for Ukraine.
Along with the 13 billion euros the European Commission owes Hungary, Budapest is also owed nearly 20 billion euros ($21.04 billion), which the EU is still keeping frozen.
Of this, 6.3 billion euros ($6.63 billion) is blocked under a mechanism that allows the EU to unilaterally freeze any funding it feels is at risk of graft. Another 2.5 billion euros ($2.63 billion) is frozen over serious allegations of human rights concerns for so-called asylum seekers and so-called LGBTQIA+ children in Hungary, as well as concerns over the academic independence of Hungarian universities.
Finally, Hungary is also entitled to around 10.4 billion euros ($10.94 billion) worth of grants and loans under the EU's post-pandemic recovery fund. Brussels is preventing Budapest from accessing these funds until it fulfills 27 different conditions meant to address the aforementioned and other concerns regarding supposed corruption in Hungary.
Watch this clip of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban railing against the European Union's and the United States' agendas of providing endless funding for Ukraine.
This video is from Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.
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