Ukraine aid
Luxembourg’s prime minister accuses Orban of attempting to blackmail the EU
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has criticized Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. photo
© Harald Tittel/dpa
In Brussels, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has to put up with accusations about his meeting with Kremlin leader Putin. However, the powerful man in Budapest has the EU partners in his hands.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused of blackmail attempts against the EU. It cannot be the case that Orban ties his approval for new aid to Ukraine to the disbursement of EU funds for his country, criticized Bettel on the second day of a summit in Brussels. One cannot want to take the European Union hostage.
Bettel’s comments alluded to the fact that Orban once again opposed the proposal for a 50 billion euro aid package for Ukraine at the EU summit. According to diplomats, his official reason for this was an alleged lack of clarity as to whether the previous aid had been used sensibly. However, EU partners believe it is likely that Orban is actually interested in freeing more than 13 billion euros in frozen EU funding for his country.
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The EU Commission announced around a year ago that it would only release the funds if Orban’s right-wing nationalist government fully implemented promises to uphold the rule of law.
Orban’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing also caused trouble at the EU summit. “What he did with Putin is a stinking finger for all the soldiers and the Ukrainians who die every day and have to suffer from Russian attacks,” said Bettel, referring to the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he found it in bad taste that Orban shook Putin’s hand.
Orban defended his meeting again. Hungary is pursuing a peace strategy and is doing everything it can to create peace, he wrote on the short message service X. The meeting with the Russian President should also be seen in this context.