Hungary’s threat to veto the loan is a major setback for Ukraine, whose coffers will begin running low on cash from April. Kyiv will struggle to sustain its war effort without fresh funds, leaving it at a disadvantage in ongoing peace talks with Russia.
The first signs of trouble began earlier in the day on Friday. Hungary’s ambassador to the EU demanded that its national assembly get the standard eight weeks to scrutinize EU legislation during a meeting of envoys in Brussels, three EU diplomats told POLITICO.
EU ambassadors were set to give their final approval for the loan ahead of Tuesday, which marks the four-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a fresh confrontation with Kyiv, Orbán is accusing the war-torn country of halting Russian gas to Hungary for political reasons. Ukraine rejects these claims, arguing that Russian strikes have damaged the energy infrastructure.
The European Commission convened an emergency meeting earlier this week to solve the dispute over the Druzhba pipeline after Hungary and Slovakia retaliated by halting diesel supplies to Ukraine.
EU leaders, including Orbán, agreed to the €90 billion loan in December following months of fraught negotiations. In a major concession, the EU exempted Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia ― who oppose giving further aid to Kyiv ― from repaying the borrowing costs of the loan.