Hungary poised to unblock EU aid to Ukraine, tap frozen funds

Hungary’s outgoing government signaled it’s ready to unblock the European Union’s $106 billion loan to Ukraine as soon as this week just as the new leadership in Budapest kicked off intensive talks with Brussels to tap its own stalled funding.

Hungary has information from Ukraine “via mediation from Brussels” that Russian oil flows may resume as soon as Monday on the Druzhba pipeline, outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Sunday. Orban has conditioned the aid for Ukraine on the resumption of supplies via the pipeline that was damaged in a Russian attack in late January.

A spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed that the EU’s executive arm had “been in contact with the concerned parties to facilitate resuming of oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline,” adding that all EU countries should honor their commitments regarding the $106 billion loan agreed at December’s leaders’ summit.

The funds are critical for Ukraine to stay in the fight more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion and with the U.S. effectively ending its assistance since Donald Trump returned to office in 2025. Kyiv has enough money to cover its needs only until June, Bloomberg reported last month.

Hungary may unblock the Ukraine aid as soon as Wednesday at a meeting of EU envoys, if oil flows resume by then, Janos Boka, Orban’s EU affairs minister, said in a separate post.

“Hungary’s position hasn’t changed,” Orban said. “If there’s oil, there’s money.”

Hungary’s incoming leader, Peter Magyar, whose Tisza party scored a landslide election win a week ago that ended Orban’s 16-year rule, also said on Friday that Druzhba flows may resume this week, based on information he received from Hungarian oil company Mol Nyrt. Chairman and CEO Zsolt Hernadi.

Hernadi is due in Moscow this week to discuss Russian oil supplies once the pipeline is operational again, Magyar said after their meeting. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Druzhba supplies may resume by the end of April.

Hungary removing its block on the EU’s Ukraine loan would go a long way to restoring goodwill between Budapest and Brussels, years after the EU suspended more than $20 billion in Hungary’s funding due to corruption and rule of law concerns under Orban.

Magyar has vowed to bring Hungary back to the European fold and to satisfy EU conditions to shore up the rule of law, including on judicial independence, anti-graft steps as well as academic and media freedoms. He’ll have the legislative powers to move quickly after winning a two-thirds parliamentary majority that will allow his Tisza party to single-handedly pass any law without opposition support.

A senior European Commission delegation wrapped up two days of funding talks in Budapest on Saturday and negotiations are set to continue this week. Magyar, who expects to form his new government in mid-May, also took part in the talks, which are taking place under severe time pressure given that about half of the blocked funds will expire after the end of August. The money is crucial to kick-start Hungary’s ailing economy.

Magyar said he will travel to Brussels next month to reach a “comprehensive political agreement” with the European Commission and EU leaders to tap Hungary’s stalled funds, according to a post on Facebook on Sunday.

“Once we take office, we plan to carry out these pledges in full, along with our vow to bring home the EU funding that belongs to the Hungarian people,” Magyar said.