EU leaders slam Hungarian PM Ukraine loan veto

European Union leaders on Thursday lashed out at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, accusing him of hijacking critical aid for Ukraine and undermining EU decision-making in an effort to win an election at home. In a rare public tirade against a member of their ranks, leaders insisted that Orban must respect the 27-nation bloc’s decision in December to fund Ukraine’s armed forces and war-ravaged economy for the next two years.

Orban himself had previously approved what is seen as a critical lifeline for war-ravaged Ukraine.

“He’s using Ukraine as a weapon in his election campaigning, and it’s not good. We had a deal, and I think that he betrayed us,” Finland Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters as the leaders gathered for a summit in Brussels. Ukraine’s economy is in tatters. EU officials believe it must get at least a sizeable part of the 90-billion-euro (USD 103-billion) loan by the start of May. For that to happen, work must move forward on the EU agreement within two to three weeks.

Orban – who is seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europe and is a strident nationalist admired by US President Donald Trump – is trailing in opinion polls ahead of elections on April 12. Part of his election campaign has been to portray Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as an existential threat to Hungary.

He has alleged that the Ukrainian leader, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, wants to drag Hungary into Russia’s war, now in its fifth year. He has claimed that his reelection is the only guarantee of peace and security.

Fellow EU leaders are now taking Orban to task, pulling the rug from under his claims that EU institutions in Brussels are against him.

“I have the impression that this is part of his electoral campaign, but in any case, we have to respect the decisions that were taken here,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told reporters. “It’s unacceptable to decide with the leaders and then after, say but I’m not ready to execute what I decided.’”

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said that “what we decide - and what he has agreed to -must be implemented”.

He said that if Orban is using the election as a pretext, then “this is not a valid argument given the situation in Ukraine, the plight of the people in Ukraine, and what we ourselves have decided.”