(CN) — The European Union approved a vital $54 billion aid package for Ukraine on Thursday after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán withdrew his veto threat under heavy pressure from other European leaders.
The aid, amounting to 50 billion euros, will be distributed from this year until 2027 and will help keep Ukraine's government afloat by paying for basic public services, such as the salaries of teachers, police and doctors. Obtaining the funds was crucial for Ukraine amid the devastation of Russia's invasion.
The EU's move may help persuade reluctant Republicans in the U.S. Congress to lift their objections to a stalled $61 billion military aid package for Kyiv. The U.S. military package is deemed essential as Ukraine's army runs low on ammunition and equipment along the front lines, where Russian troops are slowly advancing amid fierce fighting.
“I think it will be an encouragement for the United States also to do their fair share,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
With farmers' protests in Brussels as a backdrop, the EU's 27 national leaders convened at a special summit in the EU capital to compel Orbán, an ally of Russia, to unlock the aid package or face severe consequences.
In the days leading up to Thursday's summit, top EU officials threatened to use tough tactics to hurt Hungary and Orbán unless he lifted his veto threat. Many EU decisions require unanimity.
The Hungarian prime minister, who is widely seen as a far-right authoritarian menace to the EU with deep links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, argued that he was opposed to sending the money to Ukraine because it would prolong a war at his country's borders.
He has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and for negotiations with Moscow, but he is nearly alone among EU leaders in that stance.
Orbán has been a thorn in the side of the EU since the war started by refusing to go along with Russian sanctions, blocking military shipments, stalling Sweden's entry into NATO and continuing to accept Russian energy supplies.
A first tranche of 4.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion) in EU aid is expected to arrive in Ukraine in March, the Ukrainian Economy Ministry said.
“It is very important that the decision was made by all 27 leaders, which once again proves strong EU unity,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement.
Orbán claimed victory too in the negotiations.
He got other EU leaders to allow the aid package to be reviewed in two years and he claimed to have won assurances that Ukraine will not receive funds that are meant to go to Hungary. This relates to about 11.7 billion in euros ($12.6 billion) that Brussels is holding back from Budapest as part of a long-running rule-of-law dispute between the EU and Hungary. Brussels is freezing those funds because Orbán has failed to amend laws the EU sees as undemocratic.
The EU said 33 billion euros ($32.5 billion) will be offered as loans to Ukraine and 17 billion euros ($18.4 billion) as aid that doesn't have to be paid back.
The bloc said it will look into paying Ukraine with profits from interest generated from about 200 billion euros ($217 billion) in Russian assets frozen in the EU.
After Moscow invaded Ukraine, the West froze about $350 billion in Russian assets. A debate is raging over whether to use those funds to help Ukraine.
Some argue that using the Russian money may be illegal and that doing so would seriously damage trust in Western banking institutions and the dollar's central role in the global financial system. Others, though, see the Russian funds as a sensible method for sustaining Ukraine's war effort as it becomes more difficult to drum up support in the West for the war.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
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