The EU summit may be prolonged due to Orban: "Putin's ally" made sharp statements about Ukraine right at the start

At the beginning of the key European Union (EU) summit for Ukraine on December 14-15, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is called "Putin's friend," said that Budapest would block both the allocation of financial assistance to Ukraine from the EU budget and the start of negotiations on the country's accession to the bloc. Against this background, representatives of the other 26 EU countries are preparing for protracted negotiations to overcome Orban's resistance. They do not rule out the possibility that the summit may drag on for several more days.

This was reported by the Financial Times (FT). Thus, Orban said that Ukraine allegedly "does not deserve" to start negotiations on joining the EU or to receive financial support from the EU's general budget.

"There is no reason to discuss anything (regarding Ukraine's accession to the EU - Ed.) because the preconditions have not been met," Orban said upon arrival at the EU summit on December 14. He also added about financial assistance for Ukraine: "In the long term and for large amounts of money, I decide that we should allocate it outside (the EU budget - Ed.)."

It is Orban's position that is the main and only obstacle to the EU Council's decision-making on Ukraine. Earlier, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that Slovakia would not block the European Union's decision to start formal membership negotiations with Ukraine. At the same time, Orban was the only EU leader to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin this year.

Because of this, the EU is already conducting technical negotiations on an alternative solution that would assist Ukraine outside the bloc's general budget. However, the leaders of the remaining 26 EU member states still hope to convince Orban. According to officials, the off-budget instrument will last only one year, will be more expensive and require more time to prepare.

"I am ready for negotiations. I brought a lot of T-shirts with me in case it takes us a long time. Supporting Ukraine is linked to our security and our existence as a reliable union. We need strong resistance here. We have to show our unity," said Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, arriving at the summit, which is scheduled to last two days.

"The EU's ability to continue to support Ukraine has become critical given the inability of the US Congress to agree on a $60 billion package for Kyiv proposed by the White House," the newspaper notes.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, earlier the EU allowed to allocate more than 10 billion out of 30 billion euros of financial assistance to Hungary. Budapest wanted to unblock the entire package and called it a condition for lifting its veto on the record-setting support for Ukraine. This blackmail of the Orban government did not concern the issue of Ukraine's accession to the EU, a decision Hungary promised to block anyway.

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