After Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán used his veto power to block a loan to Ukraine, European Union leaders have accused him of blackmail and disloyalty, the BBC reports.
After a meeting in Brussels on the 19th of March, Orbán wrote on the X that if there is no oil, there is no money. He justified the veto on the loan by not taking enough action to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline, which carries Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Orbán’s actions were a clear disloyalty, while EU Council President Antonio Costa called the Hungarian’s actions blackmail. Orbán has maintained close ties with the Kremlin even after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and a hostile stance towards Kyiv is a key element of his election campaign. Hungary’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for he 12th of April.
Hungary is dependent on Russian energy resources, and Orbán has accused the Ukrainians of deliberately disrupting oil supplies. Kiev has said that the Druzhba pipeline was damaged by Russian air strikes and that it will take weeks to repair it. Ukraine has also stressed that resuming oil supplies to Hungary would be tantamount to lifting sanctions on Russia. Orbán has refused to approve a loan to Ukraine until the pipeline is repaired.
The meeting of EU leaders dragged on late into the evening and ended with thinly veiled fury towards Orbán.
Merz told reporters in the early hours of the 20th of March that the members of the EU Council, who have been there much longer than he has, were very angry about what happened during the meeting. He added that it was a serious lack of loyalty and that it would certainly leave deep scars.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the outcome of the meeting unprecedented and stressed that the loan should be implemented without delay. Costa also joined the disgruntled crowd, describing Hungary’s actions as completely unacceptable.
Meanwhile, Orbán stood firm. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, another ally of the Russian dictator, also refused to approve the loan. Unanimous approval is required for Ukraine to receive a 90 billion euro loan from the EU.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised that the loan would be provided one way or another, while Macron stressed that there would be no Plan B, as Plan A must be implemented.
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