Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Tuesday denied that they have vetoed economic aid to Ukraine, stressing that they are ready to provide support as long as it is given «on a bilateral basis», after the European Union postponed its decision on freezing funds to Hungary.
Orbán has taken to Twitter to claim that the news that Hungary has vetoed financial assistance to Ukraine on Tuesday is not only «false», but also that they are willing to do so as long as it is given «on a bilateral basis».
«No vetoes, no blackmail,» wrote Orbán, who assured that Hungary intends to «convince» the European Union that it is not «solution» the path of debt. «We envision a different future for Europe. One built on strong member states, instead of huge piles of common debt,» he defended.
This Tuesday the ministers of Economy and Finance of the European Union (Ecofin) have stressed the need to find an alternative solution to agree on the delivery of economic aid to Ukraine without counting on Hungary, which is trying to link this point with its access to European funds.
The Hungarian Minister of Economy, Mihaly Varga, has reproached Brussels for having set «a dangerous precedent» by «conditioning» the payment of European funds «to other completely unrelated matters».
In this sense, he regretted that despite the fact that the European Commission has given a positive evolution to the national recovery plan, «giving it an excellent rating», and that «the Hungarian government has completely fulfilled its commitments», it still maintains the freezing of these payments.
On November 30, the Commission recommended approval of the national reform plan, since Hungary has implemented a series of reforms, although it clarified that any disbursement was conditional on the fulfillment of 27 measures linked to the problems of corruption and the independence of the judiciary, which in practice means keeping these regional funds blocked.
