EU Freezes €16 Billion Loan Plan For Hungary

Because of the €90 billion blockage for Ukraine.

The European Union has frozen the approval of a loan plan for Hungary's SAFE defense program worth more than 16 billion euros because Budapest is blocking the allocation of 90 billion euros for military aid to Ukraine. This is reported by RMF24, citing a source among European diplomats.

The European Commission officially says that "the assessment is ongoing and the Commission will approve Hungary's plan when it is ready." However, the publication's source says the European Commission does not want to allocate money to Budapest because Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban "violates the principle of loyal cooperation and blocks funding for a country at war with Russia."

According to RMF FM, the European Commission had planned back in early February to postpone consideration of the Hungarian application until after the parliamentary elections in the country (where the opposition Tisza party has a good chance of winning), but Orban's position at the EU summit on March 19, where he reiterated his veto on the loan to Ukraine, was "the last straw."

The list of Brussels' claims against the Hungarian prime minister is much broader than blocking the loan to Kiev, the publication notes. Among them are opposition to the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, concerns about irregularities in tenders, as well as the lack of fight against corruption in Hungary itself.

Even in December 2025, EU leaders agreed to provide Ukraine with a 90 billion euro loan, but later Budapest blocked the procedural decisions. The main reason, according to Hungarian authorities, was the cessation of Russian oil transit through Ukrainian territory after Russia struck the Druzhba pipeline in late January.

On March 19, Orban said Hungary would not unblock the loan to Ukraine until Kiev resumes deliveries. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó suggested that Ukraine would be forced to concede as it would "run out of money." On March 25, Orban announced that he would cut off gas supplies to Ukraine until transit through Druzhba resumes, and before that he also threatened that he would block Ukraine's accession to the EU.

Budapest has previously regularly obstructed EU decisions related to aid to Kiev, and Orban himself has repeatedly spread Kremlin narratives.

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