Hungary's Orban: help for Ukraine should not hurt EU's budget

Help for Ukraine as it fights Russia's invasion should not damage the European Union's budget, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday. Hungary has opposed aims to revamp the EU budget to channel 50 billion euros to Kyiv and provide more cash for other tasks such as managing migration.

Help for Ukraine as it fights Russia's invasion should not damage the European Union's budget, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday.

Hungary has opposed aims to revamp the EU budget to channel 50 billion euros to Kyiv and provide more cash for other tasks such as managing migration. EU leaders are set to hold a summit on Feb. 1 at which they will discuss the issue. "If we want to help Ukraine, which I think we need to do, we have to do it in a way that doesn't harm the EU's budget," Orban told a news conference.

"But to give away 50 billion euros from the EU budget for four years in advance is a violation of the EU's sovereignty and national interests. We do not even know what will happen in a quarter of a year." Orban was speaking after meeting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who like his Hungarian counterpart has said there is no military solution to the war in Ukraine, nearly two years after Russia's invasion.

Orban said any financial facility for Ukraine should be separate from the EU budget. He said Hungary's proposal for creating such a mechanism was based on allocating aid on the basis of gross national income (GNI). "If Brussels accepts this, then there'll be help for Ukraine, outside the budget," he said. "If not, then I'll be sad to halt this process."

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