Photo by Robert Anasch on Unsplash
A leading think tank has welcomed news that leaders of the EU-27 have agreed an extra 50 billion euros support package for Ukraine within the EU budget. The decision was made at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on 1 February.
The move was greeted by Zsuzsanna Vegh, associate researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
She said,”Overall, the deal is great news for Ukraine, which has been in dire need and under immense time pressure to receive financial support. It is also great news for the EU, in so much that it can now act together as a bloc and avoid the lengthy and cumbersome process of negotiations on an intergovernmental aid package outside of the EU frameworks, which would need further rounds of approvals from national parliaments.”
“If reports on this deal are correct, and there is no more to the leaders’ discussion, then this is a really important safety net for Ukraine.”
“The three additions regarding the aid package, itself, are far from the high demands that Viktor Orbán posed – namely, splitting up the package and having an annual vote in the European Council, which would have given him recurrent veto opportunities.”
“The annual review of the implementation by the Commission, discussion among leaders, and if needed, the Commission’s review of the budget, seem to offer no opportunity for single member states to torpedo the package in the coming years.”
“The addition regarding the December 2020 conclusions – the “guarantee” to the way the rule of law in Hungary is evaluated by the European Commission, and how this should be done in a “fair and objective manner” – seems murky, in the absence of a full text as yet. It would suggest that the Commission has not been doing a fair and objective job. If that is so, then what are the implications?
“Viktor Orbán can and will spin the three additions, as if he was successful in his demands. But the reported concessions he has made, with respect to the annual vote based on a review, and the extension of the use of the RRF, show otherwise.“
