Ukraine: diplomatic meeting to convince Hungary to no longer block European aid

This week will be crucial for Ukraine. On Thursday, February 1, an exceptional summit of the European Union will be held to discuss the allocation to kyiv of financial aid of 50 billion euros for the next four years. But Viktor Orban's Hungary continues to block the transfer of this aid to Ukraine, intended to support both the war effort and Ukrainian state spending. This Monday, senior Ukrainian and Hungarian officials will meet at the border between the two countries to try to reach a compromise.

The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs must meet his Hungarian counterpart to try to find a compromise on European aid (illustrative image) © Mary Altaffer / AP

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With our correspondent in Kiev,

Stéphane Siohan

On Monday, the city of Uzhgorod, small regional capital of Transcarpathia, in the west of Ukraine, stuck on the Hungarian and Slovak border, the only Ukrainian city which has not been under curfew for two years, will host a summit meeting.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will come to Uzhgorod to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, as well as Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelensky's right-hand man, in Transcarpathia where the Hungarian minority lives in Ukraine.

No doubt that the civil and cultural rights of the Magyar minority will come up during the discussions between the three men,

especially since Budapest has used this issue for years to block kyiv's European aspirations.

But this time, the stakes are high. Ukrainian leaders want to persuade Hungary, known to be close to Russia, not to oppose the granting by Brussels of aid of 50 billion euros to Ukraine.

For several weeks, the Ukrainian presidency has been working to organize a visit by Viktor Orban to kyiv, in order to improve bilateral relations, but also to push Budapest to join European states in transferring the long-awaited funds to Kiev.

On Monday, in Uzhgorod, we will talk about the rights of minorities, the presence of the Hungarian language in the Ukrainian education system, but above all it will be about big money, to save the Ukrainian budget in 2024.

Viktor Orbán has a lot of prejudices towards Ukraine. He is very critical and negative towards Ukraine, and he also has sympathies for Vladimir Putin. We therefore have no particular illusions in Ukraine. But it is important for us that the dialogue continues. We are showing the European Union and all our international partners that we are ready to dialogue and that we are not giving up on finding compromises. Today, it is not just about these 50 billion euros in aid to Ukraine. I think this question will be resolved one way or another. In any case, there is much more certainty on this subject than with the American Congress, because the European Union is already considering alternatives to resolve this problem. But it is also important for us to start negotiations for accession to the EU. However, Hungary can delay the start of these negotiations. We must therefore find a form of mutual understanding, even with such a difficult interlocutor as Viktor Orban.

00:56

Volodymyr Fesenko (Ukrainian political scientist): “It is important for us that the dialogue continues” with Hungary

Anastasia Becchio

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