LONDON, February 1. /TASS/. The EU funds that are being sought by Hungary will remain frozen despite the bloc’s approval of 50 billion euros in aid for the Ukrainian budget covering the next four years, Reuters reported, citing an EU diplomat.
According to the diplomat, Hungary will still need to comply with its obligations to Brussels in order to be eligible to get EU funds.
Earlier, an official attending the European Council meeting in Brussels told the Guardian that the Hungarian prime minister got nothing in exchange for supporting the other 26 EU member states in the Ukrainian aid issue. Another person told the newspaper that Orban had no other options.
Hungary argued that it is impossible to resolve the conflict in Ukraine militarily, called for peace talks and opposed sending arms to the country. The EU proposal to allocate 50 billion euros to Ukraine works toward a military solution, Budapest said. Orban said the Europeans themselves need the money as they are increasingly suffering from poor economic conditions.
Orban also said the EU should provide financial aid to Ukraine, but in a way that would not damage the budget of the entire bloc. He said Hungary was opposed to the option of the EU taking a common loan for providing aid to Ukraine. He suggested setting up a special fund that could receive funds from both government and private sources.