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EU planning to send more money to Kiev, despite Hungary’s opposition
According to a recent report, EU’s pro-Ukrainian countries are planning to bypass the legal procedure in order to keep supporting Kiev, despite Hungary’s veto.
Thursday, December 28, 2023

Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.

Apparently, the EU wants to circumvent its own rules in order to continue supporting Ukraine. According to a Western media outlet, the European bloc is planning to advance the agenda of a new package for Kiev, ignoring the recent Hungarian veto. Some member countries are, according to the report, coming together to create mechanisms through which it would be possible to approve the aid regardless of the legal procedure.

The information was given by the Financial Times. According to the newspaper, member states are individually providing budget guarantees to the EU, allowing the European Commission to take out loans of up to 20 billion euros over the next year – thus, they plan to take this money and send it to Kiev. In these terms, the approval of the credit would depend on a majority, and not on unanimity, to be approved, significantly increasing the chances of success. It is hoped that the plan will be completed by February, when the bloc's next summit will take place.

In fact, this type of strategy has previously proven efficient. In 2020, some EU states used the same plan to obtain additional funding to combat the Covid 19 pandemic. According to the Financial Times, there are no "technical problems" in this scheme, but there are political challenges, as it involves divergences of interests between European countries and the attempt to approve measures that displease some members of the bloc.

"Crucially, the option would not require guarantees from all the EU’s 27 member states, as long as the main participants included countries with top credit ratings. That would allow the EU to sidestep Hungary’s veto because it would not require unanimous backing. Some countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, would need parliamentary approval for national guarantees, a process that officials hope could be completed in time to provide aid to Ukraine by March (…) One downside of this scheme, when compared with the original proposal based on the EU budget, is that it would be limited to loans and not include grants. Member states could still decide to provide grants bilaterally," the article reads.

Another plan reportedly being discussed involves extending the existing European financing structure for Kiev for one more year. It is a difficult proposal to put forward, but it has a better chance of being accepted than the 50-billion-euro package previously rejected by the Hungarians. Even so, sources say officials continue to try to convince Hungary to approve the original plan by March next year.

"Officials stress their preferred option is to approve the unaltered aid package first proposed in June but blocked by Hungary", FT adds.

There is still an "extreme" possibility, but it has been defended only by the most radical pro-Ukrainian militants. It is possible for the European states to invoke Article 7 of the EU Treaty against Hungary. In this scenario, it would be possible to suspend Hungary's voting rights based on allegations that the Hungarian state is violating the EU's elementary principles. This would obviously generate an unprecedented internal crisis in the bloc and could end in the exit of Hungary and even other countries, which is why attempts are being made to avoid this measure, placing it only as an "ultimate alternative".

All of this just shows how deep is the EU's current crisis. The bloc is clearly no longer capable of making its members act together. There is a lack of consensus on strategic thinking among Europeans, which is extremely serious and affects the unity of the group. In practice, this situation is due to the EU's choice to passively follow the suicidal anti-Russian measures suggested by the US. With Europe affected by its own sanctions on Moscow and going into debt to arm the neo-Nazi regime, it is expected that, in reaction, some members begin to act unilaterally against the EU's suicidal plans, precisely as Hungary has done by blocking the aid proposal.

Also, it must be emphasized that the demand for unanimity is not just a mere bureaucracy, but a way of guaranteeing the unity of the European bloc. It is fair that EU’s decisions are taken respecting the will of all its members together, without creating internal frictions and tensions. By trying to circumvent this, pro-Kiev states may even manage to have their plans approved, but they will substantially affect the European unity and worsen the bloc's internal crisis.

Furthermore, the more the Kiev regime proves to be weak and unable to continue fighting, the more countries tend to follow the Hungarian example, starting to reject the useless sending of aid to Ukraine. It remains to be seen how radical pro-Kiev European officials will react to this wave and whether they will prioritize Europe or the neo-Nazi regime.

You can follow Lucas on X (former Twitter) and Telegram.

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