Hungary’s PM Orban suggested that the EU should establish a special fund to be used to provide financial assistance to Ukraine this week. The proposal looks to replace direct bankrolling of Kiev via the EU’s budget.
The proposed fund would be made up of donations from each EU member state according to how much it wants to, or can, provide.
Orban also voiced his doubts about the chances of Ukraine prevailing in its conflict with Russia even with more EU money and called for a “ceasefire and then peace” in the conflict.
Earlier this month, Hungary blocked €500 million assigned by the EU for arms delivery to Kiev under the European Peace Facility, and Orban has also voiced his opposition to the prospects of Ukraine’s EU membership.
While European leaders currently try to work out a compromise with Orban on the Ukraine issues, the EU may also resort to a “nuclear option” that would “cut Hungary out of EU political decisions,” Politico has claimed.
Commenting on this development, foreign policy analyst Gabor Stier told Sputnik that the EU could try to isolate Hungary but that course of action would be rather unlikely.
Noting that the EU attempted to do something similar with Austria in 2000, Stier said that Brussels’ actions then led to an increase in a number of euroskeptics in Austria, and that the EU has likely learned its lesson.
“Yes, it (Hungary’s isolation) would be possible, but it would only exacerbate frictions within the EU. I think many would not like that,” he said. “It would have been open pressure that would go against the EU’s internal democracy. Plus, that approach would effectively amount to admission that the EU can’t do anything about Hungary. It would show the EU as weak.”
According to Stier, it also remains unclear how the EU may help Ukraine when the bloc suffers from a severe “financial, budget crisis.”
“Everyone is saying that Orban wants to destroy the EU, that he is an enemy, that he is pro-Russian. But I believe that he is pro-European because he protects Europe’s interests by preventing it from spending lots of money on Ukraine, as we can see that this (spending) is pointless,” Stier remarked.
He also suggested that Orban does not oppose the EU funding Ukraine per se but merely wants to balance this with the bloc’s capabilities.
“Thus Orban says that a special fund needs to be created,” Stier said. “And the EU members would send there as much money as they can or want to give.”
30 November 2023, 14:03 GMT