BRUSSELS (AP) — Hungary is set to receive 900 million euros ($981 million) in European Union money, the EU’s executive arm said Thursday, despite the Hungarian prime minister’s attempts to scupper the bloc’s support for Ukraine.
That money comes from the bloc’s REPowerEU program aimed at helping the 27 EU nations recover from the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, and reduce their dependance to Russian fossil fuels.
The proposal to unlock the money in pre-financing came as Orban – a frequent critic of the EU and often at odds with European leaders over his government’s record on the rule of law – threatens to derail Ukraine’s ambition to join the bloc, and to block the disbursement of a planned 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) in aid to Kyiv.
EU leaders will meet in Brussels next month to discuss the opening of formal negotiations on Ukraine’s future accession.
EU member countries have now four weeks to endorse the European Commission’s decision and greenlight the disbursement of money.
The total value of the Hungary’s post-pandemic recovery plan, which includes the…
Read the full article here