Hungary and Slovakia have chosen to stay out of the conclusions on Ukraine at the EU summit. This is clear after the EU heads of state and government held a video conference with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Thursday in connection with the EU summit in Brussels.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is thus once again marking his opposition to granting the otherwise agreed EU loan of 90 billion euros to Ukraine. This is done with reference to the fact that Hungary does not receive Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline. Slovakia also receives Russian oil through the pipeline.
- We want to get our oil, which is blocked by the Ukrainians. We will not support any solution that benefits Ukraine as long as the Hungarians cannot get the oil that belongs to us, says Viktor Orbán.
At the EU summit, Orbán has received criticism from several EU leaders because he himself agreed to the loan at the EU summit in December last year. This was even done with the condition that Hungary would not be held responsible for the loan if Ukraine could not repay it.
The same exception was granted to Slovakia and the Czech Republic at the meeting. This means that the other 24 EU countries - including Denmark - must repay the money if Ukraine cannot. But this has not been enough to convince Orbán, who believes that Ukraine is deliberately withholding Russian oil from Hungary.
This is rejected by Ukraine, which maintains that it will take about six weeks to repair the Druzhba pipeline after Russian attacks.
The race is effectively over in terms of convincing Orbán at the EU summit. Here, one does not expect the discussion on Ukraine to be resumed on a day when the war in the Middle East is causing concern about high energy prices and new refugee flows.
At the summit, however, the EU President, António Costa, and a number of EU leaders have made it clear to Orbán that his behavior is unacceptable.
In addition to harming Ukraine and Europe's security, it is particularly frustrating that Orbán is running away from the agreement he himself made at the summit in December. It is a break with the way EU summits work. Here, the leaders commit themselves that an agreement is an agreement.
The remaining 25 EU countries make it clear in the conclusion text that they stand behind Ukraine. And that they want to disburse the loan.
- Following its decision in December 2025 to provide Ukraine with a support loan of 90 billion euros for 2026 and 2027, the European Council welcomes the adoption of the loan by the co-legislators and looks forward to the first disbursement to Ukraine taking place in early April, the conclusions state.
However, the disbursements can only start when Hungary gives the green light. Orbán has opened the way for this to happen when oil again arrives in Hungary via the Druzjba pipeline.
/ritzau/
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