The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council is already planning yet another aid package for Ukraine. Budapest again plans to put a stop to it, however.
The new package will consist of at least €20 billion, according to Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó. Szijjártó addressed this new EU pro-war initiative on his Facebook wall on Monday.
Other sources, such as the Spanish newspaper ARA, have claimed that the amount could end up being as high as €40 billion. The Foreign Affairs Council met to discuss the proposal in Brussels on Monday.
“We will not let ourselves be dragged into this,” Szijjártó wrote. “We will not allow Hungarian taxpayers’ money to be used to finance arms deliveries to Ukraine. Instead, we support peace negotiations.”
“Thanks to President Trump, the hope for peace has never been as close in the past three years as it is now,” the Foreign Minister added. “Therefore, Brussels’ intention to obstruct peace talks is unacceptable. . . . In Brussels, the pro-war stance still prevails.”
Vice President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas took the opposite position on Monday, however, according to Euronews. “What we see right now is that Russia doesn’t really want peace,” she told reporters following the meeting, saying that there was an “understanding around the table that Russia cannot really be trusted.”
“The ball is in Russia’s court,” she added, repeating a phrase that has been heard often from Western politicians in recent weeks.
Budapest has the power to veto any European Union-wide distribution of further aid to Ukraine, which must be decided on unanimously by all member states. According to ARA, plans to bypass Hungary are already being discussed via diplomatic channels by approving the aid through a separate coalition consisting exclusively of those countries that want to provide more aid to Kyiv.
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The EU wants more weapons and aid for Ukraine, even as warnings of WWIII intensify.
"We know that Russia has put its entire economy on a wartime footing and calls on the military backing of North Korea and Iran, as well as the substantial support provided by China. We need… pic.twitter.com/hix3fU1nWM
Resistance to yet another payout to the war-weary country is not only coming from Hungary, however. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told reporters in Brussels on Monday that while his country has already agreed to bilaterally provide one billion euros to Ukraine, the new proposal suggests a proportional contribution by each member state based on their gross domestic product. If Spain were to agree to this, it would be on the hook for t€3 billion – something that is not acceptable to Madrid.
The Brussels meeting took place the day before U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that aims to convince the Russian leader to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in the war in Ukraine. Given the American president’s hostility to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and openness to talks with Putin, its timing is certainly not a coincidence.
The proposed aid package will be discussed by EU leaders at a summit on Thursday.
