Is the EU at risk of a serious loss of credibility? According to Council President Charles Michel, there is a lot at stake at the special EU summit. The Belgian makes it clear in a letter.
Shortly before a special summit on billions in financial aid for Ukraine, EU Council President Charles Michel warned urgently that the negotiations would fail.
“Ensuring an agreement is crucial for our credibility,” the Belgian wrote to the heads of state and government of the 27 member states before the summit meeting this Thursday. In particular, it is about the commitment to provide steadfast support to Ukraine. “It’s entirely up to us to find a solution and implement it,” says Michel.
New EU financial aid for Ukraine should actually have been decided at the EU summit last December. At that time, however, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vetoed the agreement, preventing an agreement. Orban had previously questioned the usefulness of the plans several times and in this context also pointed out that, in his view, the EU had wrongly frozen funds from the Community budget intended for his country.
Specifically, it is planned to make up to 50 billion euros in additional financial aid available to Ukraine by the end of 2027. At the request of countries like Italy, the EU budget should also provide additional billions for promoting competition and migration policy in the EU.
Hungary wants to be part of a solution
Before the summit, Orban said in an interview with the French magazine “Le Point” that Hungary was ready to be part of a solution. However, the prerequisite is that you decide every year whether you want to continue sending money or not. However, other member states such as Germany reject this. One reason is that they want to assure Ukraine of long-term support.
It is also about depriving Hungary of opportunities for blackmail. EU diplomats accuse Orban of trying to use a veto policy to free EU funds that have been frozen due to concerns about the rule of law.
Orban rejects this. He also refers to the European elections coming up in June. In his opinion, now committing 50 billion euros to Ukraine for the period until the end of 2027 could give citizens the impression that their vote doesn’t matter.
According to Council President Michel, other topics at the EU special summit will be the Middle East conflict and EU military aid to Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) recently initiated a debate about military aid. He criticizes the fact that other large EU countries have budgeted significantly less money for arms and ammunition deliveries for the current year than Germany. In his opinion, this endangers Ukraine’s endurance in the defensive war against Russia.
Source: Stern
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