Hungary breaks unwritten EU rule by blocking Ukraine loan document – Kachka

Hungary violated an unwritten European Union rule by blocking one of the documents required to provide a loan to Ukraine, but this will not lead to the cancellation of Ukraine’s financing, said Taras Kachka, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

Kachka made the remarks during a televised interview, Ukrinform reports.

“There is a sensitive issue for the European Union itself. In the EU, regardless of disagreements, there is a kind of legal gentleman’s rule: if something has been agreed at the level of heads of state, governments, or EU member states, then when it is later implemented through legal documents, those documents receive full support. Hungary is deliberately violating this rule, and this is causing outrage across the EU,” Kachka said.

According to him, Hungary’s actions will have long-term consequences for Budapest.

“This will hit Hungary quite hard, because it is crossing lines that should not be crossed within the European Union. Nevertheless, this is more of a long-term issue,” he added.

Kachka stressed that Hungary’s position will not affect the actual financing of Ukraine.

“Hungary has blocked one of the technical regulations. The key regulations have already been approved. So, discussions are now under way, and the Ministry of Finance and the government are working to finalize the relevant documents in order to secure the financing for us,” he said.

Earlier, Ukrinform reported that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó had stated that Hungary would block the European Union’s allocation of funds to Ukraine under a €90 billion loan unless the transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline is restored.