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A defiant Hungarian leader Viktor Orban vowed Thursday to keep blocking a massive loan for Ukraine despite heavy pressure from EU partners, who were headed into a Brussels summit hoping to unlock the much-needed funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moscow’s closest partner in the bloc, the nationalist prime minister has long resisted helping Kyiv to repel Russia’s invasion, stalling EU aid and repeated rounds of sanctions.<\/p>\n
This time around, Orban is holding up a 90-billion-euro ($104 billion) loan as leverage in a feud over damage to a pipeline running through Ukraine — which has choked the flow of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.<\/p>\n
“The Hungarian position is very simple. We are ready to support Ukraine when we get our oil, which is blocked by them,” Orban said on arriving at the Brussels summit — which Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky was to address by videolink later in the day.<\/p>\n
The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas warned on arrival it was “really, really time” to show support for Ukraine by unlocking the funding — which Hungary’s prime minister signed up to in December along with the rest of the bloc.<\/p>\n
But Orban appeared determined to play hardball, as he leans into anti-EU and anti-Ukrainian narratives ahead of close-fought national elections on April 12 — to the exasperation of fellow EU leaders.<\/p>\n
“He’s using Ukraine as a weapon in his election campaign, and it’s not good. We had a deal,” said Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The weeks-long spat has seen landlocked Hungary and Slovakia both accuse Ukraine of stalling on pipeline repairs — while Zelensky has called it “blackmail” to link the issue to support for its war effort.<\/p>\n
The European Commission moved this week to unblock the situation by sending a team to help restore oil transit, but Budapest has dismissed the initiative, with Orban describing it as a “fairy tale” Thursday.<\/p>\n
“We are waiting for the oil,” Orban told reporters — calling the matter “existential” for Hungary.<\/p>\n
“It’s not a joke, it’s not a political game.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Others disagreed — suggesting the block was squarely motivated by national politics. Cue a looming showdown and a tricky balancing act for Orban’s EU counterparts.<\/p>\n
“It will be complicated before the elections in Hungary; I have the impression that this is part of his election campaign,” said Belgium’s Bart de Wever.\u00a0<\/p>\n