The Hungarian attitude towards Ukraine did not come as a surprise with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia. What indicated the problem earlier and whether there is a chance for Kyiv to receive help from the EU, read in the article.
Pre-war aggravation
Loud claims from Budapest began in 2017 when Ukraine adopted a law on teaching in the Ukrainian language in schools of national minorities. Ukrainian children of Hungarian origin, who previously studied in the language of their ancestors, now had to master the program in Ukrainian.
To understand why this caused such a violent reaction, it is necessary to know that in many settlements relatively close to the Ukrainian-Hungarian border, people often communicate in the Hungarian language in everyday life. So, such a change became problematic.
What now?
A week ago, the delegation from Budapest received a proposal on the methods of checking the funds that the European Commission intends to allocate to Ukraine. At the same time, Hungary’s request to annually review the conditions of aid provision was rejected because it does not comply with the mandatory budget procedures of the EU.
The decisive summit will be held on February 1, and its primary goal is to approve the budget of the European Union. For it to be successful, key persons from the European Council work with the Hungarian delegation almost every day. These negotiations are becoming more intense literally every hour, indicating the active opposition of Budapest. Members of the European Commission note some developments in the negotiation process, but they do not concern the allocation of money for Ukraine.
It seems quite strange that one member of the European Union cannot be influenced by the whole organization. This implies that Hungary must be receiving greater benefits from its stubborn position than the benefits it stands to lose. The outcome of this situation will be revealed on the evening of February 1.
