The countries of the European Union have taken the first step on Saturday to circumvent Hungary’s veto on macro-financial assistance of 18 billion euros for Ukraine in the 2023 period, by agreeing to create a financial instrument that would allow them either to issue debt backed by the European budget — for which they need Hungary’s support — or to resort to national guarantees, which will allow them to take the decision at 26.
The ministers of Economy and Finance of the EU could not reach an agreement in their meeting last Tuesday because of the veto of Budapest, which uses this blockade to pressure its partners to reject the proposal of Brussels to freeze 7.5 billion of Cohesion funds to Ukraine. At the end of the meeting, the bloc announced that they would work on a «plan B» to circumvent the situation.
Thus, the EU-27 have agreed by means of a simplified procedure and «qualified majority» on the instrument that will allow recourse to the two possibilities for financing macro-financial assistance to Ukraine, although European sources warn Europa Press that «there is still no agreement» on this matter, so that guarantees from the common budget could still be counted on if Hungary backs down.
