BUDAPEST, January 29. /TASS/. Political adviser Balazs Orban to Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban (no relation) has described the threats issued by the EU in Brussels against Budapest with regard to the latter’s veto on allocating EU military aid to Ukraine as "blackmail."
"Now it’s crystal clear: this is blackmail and has nothing to do with the rule of law," he wrote on his page on X (formerly Twitter), commenting on a Financial Times (FT) article on the EU’s plans to pressure Budapest if it continues stalling the allocation of further funding for Ukraine. The adviser also noted that, "Brussels is using blackmail against Hungary like there’s no tomorrow."
Earlier, the authoritative London newspaper reported, citing an internal EU document, that Brussels was developing a plan to undermine Hungary's economy if it continued to refuse to approve funding for Ukraine. According to the FT, the EU is threatening to completely freeze Hungary's outstanding funds and collapse the exchange rate for the national currency, the Hungarian forint, in order to harm the Central European country's economy and impair its investment attractiveness.
At the last EU summit in Brussels on December 14-15, 2023, the Hungarian prime minister blocked amendments to the community's budget for 2024-2027 that called for allocating 50 bln euros to Ukraine. Instead, Victor Orban proposed providing financial aid to Kiev on an annual basis with strict controls over expenditures. The issue will be discussed again by the EU leaders at their next meeting in Brussels on February 1.