Tusk: EU Is Not Tired of Ukraine but of Orban

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that his intuition told him, the EU countries would eventually find arguments to persuade Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to unblock 50bn euros for Ukraine. He said it to journalists before the start of the special summit in Brussels. “There is no so-called problem of fatigue with Ukraine, but a problem of fatigue with Viktor Orban. We have so many problems to solve, and of course we need to strengthen our unity around Ukraine today,” Tusk said. He said that he could not understand and accept that “very strange” and “very selfish game” of Orban. The Polish Prime Minister added that there was no place for a compromise on Ukraine. “It is up to Viktor Orban to decide whether Hungary is part of our community or not. It is a black and white story. My intuition tells me that we will find some strong arguments to convince Orban in the end,” Tusk emphasized. The Polish Prime Minister expressed the view that in the medium term “we should think more, perhaps not about tough measures, but about clearer consequences” for Hungary. “The Ukrainian issue is an existential question not only for Poland, but for all of us, and today’s position of Viktor concerns security. It is so obvious and unacceptable at the same time, so we have to think about all possible measures and all possible consequences in the future, but perhaps not today,” Tusk summarized. Orban confirmed that last Saturday Budapest had sent to Brussels a compromise agreement to unblock EU funding for Ukraine for 50 billion euros. According to him, the compromise is that the funding will be allocated to Ukraine on condition “if you guarantee that every year we will decide whether we continue to send this money or not”. Therefore, in essence, this means the possibility for Hungary to block aid every year. According to media reports, EU leaders will propose to include in the EU summit decision the idea to hold annual discussions on the planned 50bn-euro aid package for Ukraine in order to get Hungary’s support in approving the funds allocation.