The leaders of the European Union have reached this Thursday an agreement to deliver 50 billion euros in aid to Ukraine over the next four years after Hungary has lifted its veto on the packageas reported by the president of the European Council, Charles Michel.

“We have an agreement. Unit. The 27 leaders agreed on an additional support package of 50 billion euros for Ukraine within the EU budget,” Michel announced through the social network X shortly after the summit of community heads of state and government began in Brussels.

The president of the Council celebrated that “this guarantees firm financing, long-term and predictable for Ukraine” and that with this “the EU is assuming leadership and responsibility in supporting Ukraine.” “We know what is at stake,” he wrote.

Michel’s message has barely arrived a few minutes after a summit of heads of state and government began which was preceded by a meeting of the president of the European Council, the French Emmanuel Macron, the German Olaf Scholz and the Italian Giorgia Meloni with Orbán to find a solution to the blockade. The president of the Spanish Government later joined in, Pedro Sánchez, and the top leaders of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, and Poland, Donald Tusk.

Orbán gets it evaluated every year

The Hungarian ultranationalist asked for a mechanism to evaluate aid to Ukraine every year, despite being a plan until 2027, and having the possibility of veto in each analysis, something that the rest of the partners flatly rejected. The other 26 Member States maintained the position agreed upon last December of including this aid in the multiannual financial framework to give it stability over the next four years and, if a unanimous agreement had not been reached, they had a plan B to transfer funds to Kyiv even without the approval of Budapest.

Finally, during the meeting prior to the summit, it was agreed with Orbán that the leaders would debate assistance to Ukraine every year at a summit and that, after two years, they could ask the European Commission to review it. However, this review or any change in aid will require the approval of all Member States, so Orbán will not be able to block the package again of assistance to Kyiv, as explained by several European sources.

In addition, the rest of the leaders have agreed to include a paragraph in the conclusions document that reminds that measures to block funds for attacks on the rule of law (a mechanism that currently keeps 6.3 billion in Budapest blocked) must be “proportionate to the impact of the violation“. “The European Council has fulfilled our priorities: supporting Ukraine, fighting illegal migration, supporting European competitiveness. A good day for Europe,” celebrated the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also on the social network X.

The agreed revision of the financial framework includes, in addition to aid to Ukraine, an additional 14.6 billion euros to reinforce immigration and neighborhood items (9,600 million), the Solidarity and Emergency Reserve (1,500 million), the Flexibility Instrument (2,000 million) and for strategic investments (1,500 million), as well as a mechanism in phases to pay the interest on the debt of the recovery fund .