{"id":834755,"date":"2026-03-18T20:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/834755\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T20:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:49:19","slug":"hungary-veto-on-ukraine-and-carbon-market-to-hijack-eu-summit-euobserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/834755\/","title":{"rendered":"Hungary veto on Ukraine and carbon market to hijack EU summit\u00a0 \u2013 EUobserver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hungary\u2019s veto on money for Ukraine is to hijack the spotlight at Thursday\u2019s EU summit in Brussels (19 March), alongside disagreements over Europe\u2019s carbon market<\/a>, overshadowing what was meant to be a key debate on turning Europe into a truly economic powerhouse.<\/p>\n

In draft conclusions, seen by EUobserver, leaders are expected to call for the \u201cswift adoption of the 20th sanctions package<\/a>\u201d against Russia \u2014 which are currently blocked by Hungary and Slovakia over disputes over a damaged oil pipeline.<\/p>\n

EU sanctions need to be agreed by unanimity, giving leverage to Budapest and Bratislava to ask for Ukraine to repair a Soviet era oil pipeline carrying Russian oil<\/a> to these countries, despite a deadline to stop the import of Russian fossil fuels approaching.<\/p>\n

On top of that, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n is also blocking the disbursement of \u20ac90bn to Ukraine, previously agreed during marathon talks at the EU leaders\u2019 summit last December<\/a>. Hungary\u2019s vetoes are widely seen as domestic fuel for Orb\u00e1n\u2019s campaign ahead of the tight 12 April elections, as opinion polls point to a potential end to his 16-year rule.<\/p>\n

Back in December, EU leaders decided not to use Russian frozen assets to assist Ukraine, instead agreeing on a \u20ac90bn loan \u2014 without the involvement of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

But Orb\u00e1n himself made it clear on Tuesday<\/a> on X, saying: \u201cNo oil deliveries? No money. It\u2019s that simple\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The deadlock has drawn sharp criticism from other national representatives in lower-level meetings ahead of Thursday\u2019s gathering, where EU member states are expected to urge Orb\u00e1n to respect the December agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cA decision taken needs to be respected, and commitments need to be respected,\u201d said an EU senior official ahead of the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no plan B [to the \u20ac90bn loan] \u2026 this was plan B in December,\u201d an EU senior diplomat pointed out.<\/p>\n

The diplomat also said that Orb\u00e1n\u2019s veto after the December agreement is \u201cunacceptable\u201d and sets a \u201cvery dangerous precedent\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have only one plan, and that is that Orban should deliver on his promise,\u201d a second EU senior diplomat said.<\/p>\n

But with no sign of Orb\u00e1n backing down over the past few weeks, some member states are pushing for more bilateral aid to Ukraine, arguing the burden isn\u2019t being shared evenly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to data from the Kiel Institute<\/a>, the UK, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands led funding for Ukraine\u2019s defence in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hungary\u2019s veto on money for Ukraine is to hijack the spotlight at Thursday\u2019s EU summit in Brussels (19…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[217083,2000,299,218484,226348,221972,239342,239339,239345,239337,239340,239343,226346,221970,218482,239338,239341,239344,226347,221971,218483,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-834755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-typedefinedterm","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-identifier24","12":"tag-identifier4278","13":"tag-identifier4294","14":"tag-identifier4390","15":"tag-identifier4420","16":"tag-identifier4545","17":"tag-nameenergy","18":"tag-nameeu-summit","19":"tag-nameeuco","20":"tag-namehungary","21":"tag-namemiddle-east","22":"tag-nameukraine","23":"tag-termcodeenergy","24":"tag-termcodeeu-summit","25":"tag-termcodeeuco","26":"tag-termcodehungary","27":"tag-termcodemiddle-east","28":"tag-termcodeukraine","29":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116252151971622664","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}