Ukraine’s top diplomat has voiced fresh hope that a long-blocked €90 billion EU loan could finally be unlocked. Andrii Sybiha raised the issue in talks with “friend and colleague” Kaja Kallas, pointing to a shift in the political winds in Budapest.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha spoke with the EU’s High Representative Kaja Kallas on phone. Among the topics discussed were the results of the Hungarian elections — and their implications for a €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine. The loan had been previously blocked by Hungary under prime minister Viktor Orbán.
Sybiha expressed hope that under the new leadership of Péter Magyar, the deadlock could be broken. Magyar decisively defeated Orbán in Sunday’s parliamentary elections. “I stressed the importance of unblocking €90 billion loan to ensure continued support for Ukraine and protection of Europe from the Russian threat,” Sybiha wrote on X.
No need to reopen the issue
Péter Magyar, leader of the victorious Tisza movement, said on Monday that EU already approved the loan for Ukraine on its summit in December. Therefore he sees no reason to reopen the issue.
EU leaders confirmed the financing at the time, however Orbán later shifted his position. He tied Hungary’s consent to the resumption of Russian oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline.
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“We expect all member states to abide by their commitments,” a Commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari confirmed on Tuesday. The Commission remains determined to make the first disbursement under the package in the second half of this year.
Ujvari reiterated Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s earlier remark that “we will deliver on the loan one way or another”. Work is now focused on finalising the remaining steps. Those include a memorandum of understanding, an updated Ukraine plan and the loan agreement, he added.
Péter Magyar stressed that his country would not be a financial contributor to the loan. “Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia are not taking part in the, so it does not concern our country. That is how it was approved,” he said at a press conference on Monday.
Membership not on the table righ now
He distanced himself from Orbán’s openly hostile rhetoric towards neighbouring country. Although he didn’t refuse Ukraine’s EU membership as such, he opposed a ‘fast-track’ accession.
“We are talking about a country at war, and admitting such a state into the EU would be completely absurd. At the moment, it’s not even possible to hold meaningful negotiations on all chapters of the accession treaty, so I don’t consider this a realistic option,” he said.
He added that the key to rebuilding relations would be Ukraine’s treatment of ethnic Hungarians in the western region of the country.
Ukraine cautiously optimistic
Ukraine has responded to Péter Magyar’s victory with cautious optimism rather than enthusiasm. President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated him and expressed hope for more constructive relations between Kyiv and Budapest.
The result is seen as a potential end to an era in which Hungary repeatedly blocked key European help to Ukraine. At the same time it is acknowledged that Magyar does not represent a clear-cut shift in Hungary’s foreign policy.
