{"id":66509,"date":"2026-04-23T02:21:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/66509\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T02:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:21:18","slug":"eu-considers-106-billion-loan-to-ukraine-delayed-for-months-by-orban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/66509\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Considers $106 Billion Loan to Ukraine, Delayed for Months by Orban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hungary dropped its opposition to a $106 billion loan from the European Union to Ukraine on Wednesday, most likely clearing the way for the bloc to extend a needed lifeline to Kyiv as the war with Russia<\/a> drags on.<\/p>\n

The loan \u2014 90 billion euros \u2014 had been held up since February by Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary and his government.<\/p>\n

But on Wednesday, ambassadors from across the 27-nation European Union, meeting in Brussels, agreed to move ahead on the loan, according to a spokesperson from Cyprus, which currently holds the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union\u2019s political leadership arm. The ambassadors also agreed to move forward with a package of sanctions against Russia, which had also been held up, added the spokesperson, who requested anonymity to discuss diplomatic deliberations.<\/p>\n

While Hungary could in theory still object during final steps,both the loan and the fresh measures against Russia are most likely headed for swift final approval \u2014 which means money could soon flow to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The break in what has been a monthslong impasse came after the reopening of the Druzhba<\/a> pipeline, which carries oil from Russia across Ukraine and into Slovakia and Hungary. The pipeline had been damaged in what Ukraine said was a Russian attack, and Hungary said Kyiv had not been moving fast enough to repair it.<\/p>\n

Because of that, Mr. Orban\u2019s government announced in late February<\/a> that it would block the loan, which it had agreed to allow through as recently as December<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian and E.U. officials saw Mr. Orban\u2019s opposition to the loan as an example of pre-election postering<\/a> before a vote on April 12; his ad campaigns had been anti-Ukraine and skeptical of the European Union.<\/p>\n

Things moved even faster than that.<\/p>\n

Mr. Orban posted on social media<\/a> on April 19 that the pipeline could be fixed imminently. \u201cOnce oil deliveries are restored, we will no longer stand in the way of approving the loan,\u201d he added, indicating that there might be room for even earlier progress.<\/p>\n

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine\u2019s president, said on Tuesday that the pipeline<\/a> had been repaired. A large Hungarian energy company, MOL, announced on Wednesday<\/a> that oil had again begun to flow through the pipeline.<\/p>\n

With the oil moving and the loan headed for final approval, money could replenish an increasingly desperate Ukraine within weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is important, to move fast and then to have the first payment already next month,\u201d Kestutis Budrys, the Lithuanian minister of foreign affairs, said before a meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

European officials had found ways to keep Kyiv funded during the delay, but the loan will provide far more substantial financial support for Ukraine as Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion extends into a fifth year.<\/p>\n

Ukraine would need to repay the no-interest loan only if Russia were to pay reparations. Kyiv needs the cash to buy air defenses and military equipment, and it has been rapidly depleting its existing finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important that the European support package becomes operational promptly,\u201d Mr. Zelensky said on social media.<\/p>\n

The loan itself will come at no eventual cost to Hungary, or to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, all of which opted out of helping to pay for it as a condition for allowing it to pass. The loan is backed by the European Union\u2019s shared budget.<\/p>\n

The final steps on the loan are expected to conclude on Thursday, which is also when European Union leaders will travel to Cyprus for a meeting to talk about Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and other issues.<\/p>\n

In Hungary, in addition to signaling that he would unblock the loan, Mr. Magyar has struck a more friendly tone toward the European Union than Mr. Orban did.<\/p>\n

But it remains unclear how much Mr. Magyar will change Hungary\u2019s broader approach<\/a> toward Ukraine. He has stopped short of endorsing additional financial aid to Kyiv, and he has made it clear that he opposes an accelerated timeline for Ukraine\u2019s integration into the European Union.<\/p>\n

Maria Varenikova and Lara Jakes contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hungary dropped its opposition to a $106 billion loan from the European Union to Ukraine on Wednesday, most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[104],"tags":[211,210,36492,71,73,3039,35681,11223,36087,15265,238,241,36113],"class_list":["post-66509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-belgium","tag-brussels","tag-brussels-belgium","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-hungary","tag-magyar","tag-orban","tag-peter","tag-pipelines","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-viktor"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116451638418930884","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66509","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=66509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}