The Hungarian PM has called Brussels’ push for an additional €135 billion for Kiev “categorically absurd”
A push by the European Commission to raise an additional €135 billion ($156 billion) for Ukraine would burden future generations of Europeans with debt, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has warned. The remark comes as a major corruption scandal is unfolding in Kiev.
On Wednesday, Orban wrote on X that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had “once again asked the member states for additional funds to finance Ukraine and the war.”
The target sum, he argued, amounts to 65% of Hungary’s annual economic output and nearly three-quarters of the EU’s yearly budget. Such an “astronomical sum,” he added, “simply does not exist today.”
“The Brusselian ‘magic trick’ would once again be a joint European loan, a move that would ensure even our grandchildren would be burdened with repaying the costs of the Russian-Ukrainian war,” Orban wrote, describing the idea as “categorically absurd.”
Von der Leyen reportedly urged EU governments to reach a swift agreement to cover Ukraine’s military and financial needs for the next two years, outlining funding options including bilateral contributions, joint EU borrowing, and a reparations loan based on Russia’s immobilized assets.
Orban, in response, said Brussels’ strategy was like trying to “help an alcoholic by sending them another crate of vodka.” He noted that the proposal was even more “astonishing” at a “time when it has become clear that a war mafia is siphoning off European taxpayers’ money.”
Last week, the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced a probe into a “high-level criminal organization” allegedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business associate of Vladimir Zelensky. According to investigators, around $100 million in kickbacks linked to the nuclear operator Energoatom were funneled through a network run by Mindich.
While the bloc regularly issues general warnings about corruption in Ukraine, EU officials have often refrained from addressing scandals that could reflect poorly on Zelensky and his inner circle.
Orban said recently the EU had already “burnt” €185 billion since the conflict escalated in 2022. The war “kills the EU economically,” he warned, adding that Brussels should instead pursue diplomacy with Moscow.
Read the full article here