In an interview with Le Point, published this morning, Hungary’s Viktor Orban repeated a position Budapest has articulated over the past days: that it is now open to providing Ukraine aid from the EU budget, as long as a unanimous decision would be taken every year to allow assistance to continue – effectively giving Budapest an annual veto, The Guardian reports.
"We decided to make a compromise offer: fine, we do not agree with the budget amendment. We do not agree that we should give EUR 50 billion [to Ukraine], which is a huge amount. We do not agree that we should give it for four years and so on," he said.
"But let it be, Hungary is ready to participate in the solution of the twenty-seven, if they guarantee that every year we will decide whether or not we will continue to send this money," he added. "And this annual decision must have the same legal basis as today: it must be unanimous. Unfortunately, this position is understood or interpreted by some countries as a means to blackmail them every year."