Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said his country will not back the European Union’s efforts to aid Ukraine with jointly raised funds.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, speaking on Monday, November 7, said that his country will not support the joint EU packages. At the same time, he stressed that Hungary supports Ukraine bilaterally and will continue to do so.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has already announced that a new support package is expected to be presented on Wednesday 9, as reported by expressen.se.
According to Bloomberg, it will be a support package of roughly €18 billion. It added that the EU budget is expected to be used as a guarantee to be able to collect the funds. That is being speculated as the main reason why Hungary is against participating this time.
Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister has previously questioned the EU’s economic sanctions against Russia. He called them a ‘failure’, while insisting that Hungarian families are suffering because of inflation.
The sanctions package previously agreed upon by the EU countries required agreement among the 27 member states. Hungary has previously stopped some sanctions by using its veto. Last month, the country sent out a survey with questions asking the population what they thought of the sanctions, reported DN.
As reported recently by Bloomberg, Orbán wants to see a Hungarian national consultation on the energy sanctions. According to DN, the Hungarian government has previously carried out about ten such consultations, which function as a way for the government to gain the political legitimacy it needs on certain issues.
Hungary is one of the EU countries most dependent on Russian energy. 65 per cent of the country’s oil comes from Russia.
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