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EU’s decision on Ukraine financing guarantees sensible spending — Hungarian PM

Viktor Orban noted that the European funds due to Hungary would not be used to finance Ukraine

BUDAPEST, February 1. /TASS/.The European Union's decision on additional financing for Ukraine, made at the recent EU summit in Brussels, guarantees that the funds will be spent in a sensible way, and that is why Hungary supported it, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.

The Hungarian premier noted that the European funds due to Hungary would not be used to finance Ukraine.

"We have agreed on a control mechanism promising the rational use of funds, and we were guaranteed that the money allocated by Hungary would not end up in Ukraine," Orban said in a video on his page on Facebook (banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta designated as extremist).

Hungary’s PM Orban also stated that he was happy about how global financial markets reacted following the EU decision.

Earlier in the day, the leaders of the European Union’s member-states approved the allocation of long-term budget aid for Ukraine totaling 50 billion euro over the next four years at their summit in Brussels.

President of the EU Council Charles Michel was quoted earlier as saying on the X social network: "All 27 leaders agreed on an additional €50 billion support package for Ukraine within the EU budget."

At a Brussels meeting of EU leaders on December 14-15, 2023, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked amendments to the community’s 2024-2027 budget, which had called for granting 50 bln euros to Ukraine. Instead, he called for providing annual aid to Kiev outside of the EU budget and ensuring stringent controls over use of the funds.

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