European Union leaders failed to reach agreement on a \u20ac90bn loan for Ukraine after Hungary refused to lift its veto during a summit in Brussels, despite pressure from other member states.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n said he would not support any decision benefiting Ukraine until oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline resume, linking the funding to an ongoing dispute over energy deliveries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
The loan, agreed in principle in December, requires unanimous approval. Hungary had previously backed the arrangement but reversed its position earlier this year, prompting criticism from several EU leaders.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Finland\u2019s prime minister Petteri Orpo accused Orb\u00e1n of breaking a prior agreement. \u201cWe had a deal, and he betrayed us,\u201d Orpo said as he arrived at the summit.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The dispute centres on the Druzhba pipeline, which transports Russian oil through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia. Supplies have been disrupted since January after damage caused by a Russian air strike, according to Ukrainian authorities. Hungary has blamed Ukraine for delays in restoring flows.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n said his position would not change. \u201cI will never support any kind of decision in favour of Ukraine as long as Hungary does not receive the oil that belongs to us,\u201d he told reporters in Brussels.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
EU officials said leaders spent about 90 minutes discussing the issue at the start of the summit.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
European Council president Ant\u00f3nio Costa told leaders that Hungary\u2019s actions breached the principle of cooperation within the bloc. Belgium\u2019s prime minister Bart De Wever, who helped negotiate the original deal, said the reversal was unacceptable and undermined trust.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten also criticised the veto, saying the funding must be delivered without delay. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said alternative routes exist to bypass Hungary\u2019s opposition but warned such steps would require political will.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The \u20ac90bn package aims to support Ukraine\u2019s government spending and military needs as the war with Russia enters its fifth year. Ukrainian officials have warned that without new funding, the state could face budget shortages within weeks. Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X<\/a> that the support \u201cis not charity\u201d but an investment in European security.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The European Commission has offered financial and technical assistance to repair the pipeline, while Croatia has said it can supply oil to Hungary and Slovakia through an alternative route. Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenkovi\u0107 said the country has capacity to meet demand, though at market prices higher than pipeline oil.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Despite these proposals, Orb\u00e1n maintained his position during both public remarks and closed-door discussions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n HT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European Union leaders failed to reach agreement on a \u20ac90bn loan for Ukraine after Hungary refused to lift…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[87],"tags":[24877,15564,327,25549,158,113,3039,3926,25548,4038],"class_list":["post-44996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-helsinki","tag-brussels-summit","tag-druzhba-pipeline","tag-eu","tag-eu-politics","tag-finland","tag-helsinki","tag-hungary","tag-petteri-orpo","tag-ukraine-loan","tag-viktor-orban"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116264601022124756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}