BUDAPEST, February 2. /TASS/. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has described the EU summit’s decision not to transfer the funds meant for Hungary under the EU treaty to Ukraine as his country’s "major triumph."
"A major triumph for Hungary at the recent European Union summit. Hungary successfully prevented the misallocation of its EU-treaty-entitled funds, ensuring they would not be transferred to Ukraine," he was quoted as saying by Hungarian Secretary of State Zoltan Kovacs on his X (formerly known as Twitter) page.
"Hungary's participation in collective decision-making led to the formation of a control mechanism. This mechanism guarantees that the funds are spent as per agreement, with the European Commission reporting annually to the European Council," he noted, adding that Hungary stays committed to peace and objects to weapons supplies to Kiev.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that his country did not object to the allocation of 50 billion euros to Ukraine at the European Union summit in Brussels, because this money will be spent not on purchasing weapons, but on supporting the bankrupt Ukrainian state in order to prevent its complete collapse. Earlier, he insisted that the EU funds’ money due to Hungary must not be used for financing Ukraine.
On February 1, the European Union summit approved the allocation of 50 billion euro from the EU budget to Ukraine spread out over the next four years. At the same time, they accepted Hungary’s proposal and established a mechanism to control the spending of funds. In a year from now, the EU will discuss this issue again, and in two years, it will revise the amount of financial aid to Ukraine in light of its own new budget drafting. At the same time, none of the countries, including Hungary, will have a veto right in further discussions on this topic.
According to Orban, the negotiations were lengthy, but when all the obstacles were removed, Hungary agreed to the proposed plan. At the EU leaders' previous meeting on December 14-15, 2023, the Hungarian prime minister blocked amendments to the EU budget for 2024-2027, which provided for the allocation of 50 billion euro to Ukraine, because they lacked a mechanism to control the spending of funds.