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EU leaders have vowed to find a way to support Ukraine after Hungary’s Viktor Orbán vetoed a jointly-funded €50bn lifeline for the war-torn country.
A two-day summit concluded in Brussels on Friday with no agreement on new cash for Kyiv. But leaders expressed confidence that a solution could be found early next year, either by bringing Orbán on board or forcing the package of support through without his backing.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that €1.5bn, already promised by the EU, would be released to Ukraine “in coming days” and that this would provide a “small but important bridge” while the bloc found a way to either bring Orbán on board or to find alternative solutions.
“We are working very hard of course to have a result where there is an agreement of 27 member states,” she said. “Work on potential alternatives” was also under way in case unanimity could not be reached, added von der Leyen.
Charles Michel, the president of the European Council who hosted the summit, said he was “very confident” the EU would find a way to fulfil its financial commitments to Ukraine during an emergency summit either at the end of January or beginning of February.
The sense of urgency for the EU to find a solution was amplified by the US Congress’s repeated failure to approve a $60bn aid package proposed by the White House. On Thursday, Congress agreed to the much smaller sum of $300mn as part of a wider military spending bill while negotiations over the larger package dragged on.
The bloc’s largest members are pushing for rapid legal work on alternatives, including a way for Budapest to contribute after a fund is created by the 26 other member states, officials familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “quite confident that we’ll reach an agreement in January”, insisting that leaders “shouldn’t give up the objective” of funding Ukraine via the common budget.
French President Emmanuel Macron noted that Orbán was not needed to extend the current funding agreement with Ukraine, which can be approved by a majority of EU governments.
“We have the means and they have been planned . . . so as to keep supporting Ukraine in the coming months. We won’t be blocked by the decision today,” he said.
Macron added that he expected Orbán “to behave like a European and not take the political process hostage” in the coming months.
“I think there are plans B, we even talked about it on the sidelines but frankly I hope it doesn’t come to that,” said Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, as she left the summit.
EU officials said the bloc’s net contributors were all on board with the proposed €50bn in grants and loans for Ukraine over the next four years. But despite overnight talks that went on into the early hours of Friday, Orbán refused to budge, even as he relented in his opposition to starting membership talks with Kyiv.
In the early hours of Friday when a solution at 26 looked like the only option, Meloni said she could not support Ukraine aid without securing more money for additional priorities. At that point leaders decided to call it a night and reconvene next year, according to three people briefed on leaders’ talks.
“I have always reiterated the fact that it would not be understood to change [common] resources solely for Ukraine,” she said when leaving the summit.
Balázs Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister’s political director, who is no relation, said Budapest would only agree to using the EU budget for Kyiv if the EU agreed to release further funding to Budapest that has been frozen because of concerns over the rule of law.
“We don’t get our money. Why would we have any further [financial] facility?” he said.
He also said other EU member states had been “blackmailing Hungary for years” by withholding cash. On Wednesday the European Commission agreed to release €10bn of funding to Hungary but €20bn remains blocked.
However, Budapest could contribute to a fund outside the budget that lasted less than four years, the Hungarian official said. “Hungary is not against supporting Ukraine financially outside the budget, for a lot shorter period of time” and with “some recommendations”.
Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said earlier on Friday that “Ukraine will not be left without support” and that there was a “strong will” among the other member states to deliver the necessary aid. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo also reassured Kyiv that “we will be there to support you, we need to figure out a few details”.
Kallas warned that a solution among the 26 would take more time to deliver. “We are all democracies and democracies take time, but Ukraine does not have the time,” she said.
Despite vocal opposition before the summit, Hungary’s premier did allow leaders to approve the start of EU accession talks with Ukraine by leaving the room during the vote. Orbán said on Friday he did so because there were still ample opportunities to veto Kyiv’s accession process in the years to come.
“It was necessary to send this political signal to our friends in Ukraine,” said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda. “Of course this is only the first page of [a] very long process.”
Additional reporting by Leila Abboud in Paris, Guy Chazan in Berlin, Javier Espinoza in Brussels and Marton Dunai in Budapest
