BUDAPEST (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) Hungary considers the European Commission's proposal for member states to allocate additional 50 billion Euros ($54 billion), mostly to support Ukraine, absurd since it remains unknown how much the EU has already paid to Kiev and how the money has been used, Balazs Orban, the political adviser to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said on Thursday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on June 21 that the Commission had reviewed the draft EU budget for the 2024-2027 period and asked member states to increase it by 66 billion euros. Of that amount, 50 billion euros would be earmarked for loans and grants to Ukraine, 15 billion euros for migrant and refugee programs, and 1 billion euros for improving the EU's competitiveness, she added. Viktor Orban called her suggestion unfounded, saying it was not known how Kiev had used the aid it had previously received.
"The European Commission's proposal is expected to be discussed extensively, and this discussion will not go anywhere in the coming months. So far, the Hungarian position has been quite clear: we consider the Commission's proposal absurd and unsuitable for negotiations. As far as support for Ukraine is concerned, first of all we would like to see how much the EU has already allocated to Kiev from various sources and where the money has gone," Balazs Orban told Hungarian broadcaster Hir tv.
He added that "every EU citizen" would like to ask these questions and that the European Commission still has no answer to them.
The official noted that while Brussels expects member states to extend another joint loan, Hungary has not yet been granted access to the fund financed by the previous joint credit, which is "unacceptable" for Budapest.
In September 2022, the European Commission proposed to freeze 7.5 billion euro in EU funds for Hungary, citing corruption and public procurement concerns, after having triggered the rule of law conditionality mechanism against Hungary in April.
In December 2022, EU countries agreed to freeze 6.3 billion euro in cohesion funds, a smaller amount than initially proposed by the European Commission, that had been earmarked for the country in exchange for giving up Budapest's veto on a number of issues, notably the aid package to Kiev.
In December 2022, the Hungarian prime minister said that the Commission wanted to influence Budapest's stance on migration, sex education, and sanctions against Russia, but promised that he would remain firm on these issues.
