EU leaders round on Orban for stalling Ukraine loan

BRUSSELS

Outraged EU leaders rounded on Viktor Orban after the Hungarian nationalist refused to lift his veto on funds for Ukraine's war effort at a summit, accusing him of a "gross act of disloyalty" tantamount to "blackmail."

Moscow's closest partner in the bloc, Hungary's prime minister has long resisted helping Kiev to repel Russia's invasion by stalling EU aid and repeated rounds of sanctions.

This time, Orban is holding up a 90-billion-euro ($104 billion) loan, which he previously greenlit, as leverage in a feud over damage to a pipeline through Ukraine, which has choked the flow of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.

"No oil = no money," the Hungarian leader posted on X after the talks on March 19 night, refusing to budge despite concerted pressure from fellow leaders and a video address from Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky pleading for the funds' release.

Leaders lined up after the summit to condemn Hungary's U-turn, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling it "unprecedented" and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz slamming "a gross act of disloyalty."

"I am firmly convinced that it will leave deep marks," Merz told a press conference in the early hours of March 20.

Orban had made it clear he planned to play hardball, as he leans into anti-EU and anti-Ukrainian narratives ahead of close-fought national elections on April 12.

"I held my ground and we are exactly where we were this morning: If there is oil, there will be money," Orban said afterwards.

At odds with his EU peers on many fronts, Orban has held up countless decisions on Ukraine though solutions have ultimately been found, in one famous case by having him leave the room while the bloc approved the start of membership talks with Kiev.

This time, though, EU leaders made clear he had crossed a line.

"Nobody can blackmail the European institutions," warned Antonio Costa, who chairs the council of the EU's member states, calling Hungary's stance "completely unacceptable."

Budapest, joined by Bratislava, refused to endorse summit conclusions reaffirming the intent to release the funds, which requires unanimity, with leaders agreeing to revisit the matter at their next planned meeting.

But Macron told reporters after the summit there would be "no Plan B."

"When heads of state and government reach a decision, it must be honored," he said. "The credibility of the Council is at stake."

At the root of the standoff is a weeks-long dispute in which landlocked Hungary and Slovakia accuse Ukraine of stalling on pipeline repairs, while Zelensky has branded linking the issue to support for Kiev's war effort "blackmail."

The European Commission moved this week to unblock the situation by sending a team to help restore oil transit, but Orban dismissed the scheme as a "fairy tale."

Briefing on March 19’s closed-door talks, an EU diplomat said that "all the other leaders said Orban's stance was unacceptable" with the exception of Italy's Giorgia Meloni, who voiced sympathy with his situation in the election run-up.

Although Orban denies it, many of his counterparts see his blocking as squarely motivated by national politics.

"He's using Ukraine as a weapon in his election campaign, and it's not good. We had a deal," Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters in Brussels.