EU leaders blast Viktor Orbán over a Ukraine loan veto, accusing him of playing election games

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BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders on Thursday lashed out at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, accusing him of hijacking critical aid for Ukraine and undermining EU decision-making in an effort to win an election at home.

In a rare public tirade against a member of their ranks, leaders insisted that Orbán must respect the 27-nation bloc’s decision in December to fund Ukraine’s armed forces and war-ravaged economy for the next two years. Orbán himself had previously approved what is seen as a critical lifeline for war-ravaged Ukraine.

“He’s using Ukraine as a weapon in his election campaigning, and it’s not good. We had a deal, and I think that he betrayed us,” Finland Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters as the leaders gathered for a summit in Brussels.

Ukraine's economy is in tatters. EU officials believe it must get at least a sizeable part of the 90-billion-euro ($103-billion) loan by the start of May. For that to happen, work must move forward on the EU agreement within two to three weeks.

Orbán – who is seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europe and is a strident nationalist admired by U.S. President Donald Trump – is trailing in opinion polls ahead of elections on April 12. Part of his election campaign has been to portray Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as an existential threat to Hungary.

He has alleged that the Ukrainian leader, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, wants to drag Hungary into Russia’s war, now in its fifth year. He has claimed that his reelection is the only guarantee of peace and security.

Fellow EU leaders are now taking Orbán to task, pulling the rug from under his claims that EU institutions in Brussels are against him.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz insisted that all 27 EU member countries must respect the decision they made together in December. “The guiding principle of the European Union is one of loyalty and reliability,” he said.

On the eve of the summit Merz had accused Orban of “setting up this blockade in Europe now for domestic political reasons and because of an election campaign that is being conducted there.”

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said "it’s unacceptable to decide with the leaders and then after say ‘but I’m not ready to execute what I decided.’”

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said that if Orban is using the election as a pretext, then “this is not a valid argument given the situation in Ukraine, the plight of the people in Ukraine, and what we ourselves have decided.”

The standoff has highlighted important weaknesses in EU decision-making procedures, which often require unanimous agreement among the 27 member countries. Hungary has a population of almost 10 million, a fraction of the bloc’s 450 million people.

Ukraine and Hungary have been locked in an escalating feud since deliveries of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia were halted in January due to damage to the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory.

Ukrainian officials blame the damage on Russian drone attacks, but Orbán accuses Zelenskyy of deliberately holding up oil supplies. Hungary has not only vetoed the loan package, it’s also blocking a new round of EU sanctions against Russia.

In an effort to break the deadlock, von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa offered this week to pay for repairs to the pipeline. An EU technical team is in Kyiv awaiting security clearance to inspect the site.

But Orbán vowed to continue to block the loan as long as oil shipments to Hungary are halted.

“What we are talking about is not politics, it is existential for Hungary. To get the oil is existential for the Hungarians,” said Orbán, who has been Hungary’s prime minister since 2010 and is seeking his fifth term. “It’s not a joke, it’s not a political game. Zelenskyy should understand it."

Ahead of the meeting, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico withdrew support for a planned summit statement on Ukraine because it did not include the pipeline oil delivery issue, as he requested. “This is being rejected for incomprehensible reasons. I will not vote for the conclusions on Ukraine,” he told Slovak lawmakers.

The EU mostly weaned itself off Russian oil and natural gas after 2022 as Putin used the bloc’s dependence on it as leverage to undermine European support for Ukraine. However, Hungary and Slovakia were given exemptions to keep using Russian oil.

Their leaders say they are landlocked and have no easy access to other suppliers, although they are currently receiving oil via an alternative route through Croatia. However, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković noted that Hungary and Slovakia pay about 30% less for Russian oil.

Zelenskyy, who addressed the leaders via video link, is vehemently opposed to allowing Russian energy to transit through Ukraine. Energy revenue has fueled Putin's war, and Russian forces have relentlessly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure throughout the conflict.

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Geir Moulson and Pietro De Cristofaro in Berlin, and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.