![]() ![]() The crunch summit in Brussels ended the talks on the budget at 3am on Friday after EU leaders decided not to isolate Hungary further. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Budapest, “in contrast to many European countries, firmly defends its interests, which impresses us”. Russia praised Hungary for blocking the aid. The European Commission, the EU executive, restored Hungary’s access to €10.2bn in frozen funds on Wednesday after Budapest passed laws addressing some EU concerns, but funds worth billions of euros remain frozen. “It is a great opportunity for Hungary to make it clear that it must get what it is entitled to. Orbán, who has a history of trying to use disagreements with other EU leaders for his electoral benefit, told state radio he had blocked the aid package to ensure that Budapest gets funds from the EU budget that are frozen over concerns about the rule of law in Hungary. Macron predicted that the Hungarians would continue to defend their “legitimate national interests”, but expected them to “go beyond posturing”, show responsibility and “behave like Europeans and not take the political progress hostage”. He added: “The money will continue to flow to Ukraine for the next couple of months, and hopefully when we come back here in January or February we’ll be able to agree a package of financial support for Ukraine.” Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, said he was a “bit disappointed” that they could not agree on the budget, but it was “not a disaster in the sense that we can now roll over the loans to Ukraine”. “I think we can fund Ukraine if we are totally blocked next year,” Macron told reporters after the EU summit in Brussels. Macron: I expect Viktor Orbán to act like a European – videoĭiplomats and EU leaders have made it clear they would prefer the Ukraine fund to come from the central budget, but if it does not, they can find the €50bn (£43bn), made up of €17bn cash and €33bn in loans, without Orbán.
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