Why has Hungary blocked EU aid to Ukraine? | Explained Premium

What is the significance of Hungary’s move to block EU aid to Ukraine after it allowed EU membership talks to begin for the war-torn country?

The story so far: At a meeting this week, leaders of the European Union (EU) agreed to start negotiations for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who had vowed to oppose this move, allowed the decision to go through. But he blocked the EU’s €50 billion aid package for Ukraine.

Prime Minister Orban, a right-wing leader, is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In April 2022, after his re-election, he named Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as one of the “opponents” he had to overcome. He believes that the regime in Ukraine is beset by corruption, and that the country is not yet ready for EU membership. He believes Ukraine should first serve as a strategic partner of the EU for some time before membership talks can begin.

He has been opposed to the financial package on the grounds that a non-EU member should not be getting such huge funds at a time when Hungary, an EU member-state, has been denied funds that were specifically allocated for it.

The EU had frozen substantial funds earmarked for Hungary, on the grounds that Hungary had violated EU norms on law and order and judicial independence. Analysts believe Hungary has sought to use its veto power on Ukraine’s long-term funding as well as formal membership talks as a bargaining chip to get EU to unfreeze these funds. In fact, a day before the summit meeting, the EU released €10 billion of frozen funds to Hungary — a move that was widely seen as a capitulation to Mr. Orban’s blackmail. The European Commission, however, has maintained that the timing was a mere coincidence and the funds were released in response to Hungary meeting EU’s demands on judicial reforms.

In what is seen by many as a quid pro quo, during the meeting of the 27 EU leaders, Mr. Orban, at the urging of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, left the room when it was time to raise objections, allowing the remaining 26 to seal the decision on starting official talks on Ukraine’s EU accession.

Not really. Accession to the EU is a long-drawn process, where a country has to fulfil several governance-related and other requirements. If we exclude the six founding members, on an average, it took about nine years for each of the other 21 members to gain membership. Mr. Orban has said that Hungary will have plenty of opportunities to disrupt or even derail Ukraine’s membership process.

For Ukraine’s membership to go through, it will have to be approved by the Parliaments of all the EU nations, including Hungary’s. Mr. Orban seems to have calculated that he doesn’t stand to lose much by letting the accession talks begin so long as he can use the leverage afforded by his veto power to extract concessions for Hungary from the EU.