Hungary was able to get Brussels to unfreeze part of its funds, so that Budapest would lift its veto on some important issues, including 18 billion macro-financial aid for Ukraine.
This is reported by Politico.
EU ambassadors unanimously decided to provide Ukraine with 18 billion euros of macro-financial assistance.
Reaching an agreement on this package in this format was in question until the last, in particular because of Hungary's position. Formally, Viktor Orban stated that Budapest is against the provision of funds from the bloc. That is why Brussels started to prepare "plan B" so that Ukraine could still receive these funds without the consent of Hungary - through individual guarantees of 26 member states instead of the European one. They wanted to avoid this in order not to demonstrate differences in the EU regarding support for Ukraine.
Hungary, as you know, did not agree to provide 7.5 billion of the European funds provided for it due to problems with the rule of law, as well as "covid" 5.8 billion for the recovery of the economy. Budapest, for its part, blocked the allocation of 18 billion macro-financial aid for Ukraine and the agreement on the minimum global corporate tax.
On Monday, EU member states agreed to reduce the amount of blocked funds to 6.3 billion euros, and also approved the Hungarian plan to spend funds from the "covid" fund - 5.8 billion euros in grants, which had been delayed for a year and a half due to democratic backlash in the country At the same time, this statement came with conditions - Hungary will have to implement 27 changes in the field of fighting corruption and the independence of the judicial system.
The deal looks like a victory for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who had hoped for months to secure the funding thanks to the ability to promise EU-level decisions - which are taken unanimously. Also, the desire of the EU countries against the backdrop of the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine to maintain the appearance that the countries "speak with one voice" could have played in favor of such a compromise.
However, the question remains whether Hungary will be able to fulfill the 27 conditions for actually receiving the money and whether what has been done will be considered sufficient.
It will be recalled that the Council of the EU approved the provision of 18 billion macro-financial assistance to Ukraine to support it in war conditions during 2023. The proposal of the European Commission was agreed through a written procedure and will be submitted to the European Parliament for consideration and approval on Tuesday.