EU passes EUR 50 billion aid package for Ukraine

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 01 Feb 2024 by Alex Teddy
On February 1 all 27 EU member states agreed to the package. The row over this has lasted for 6 weeks. Hungary had vetoed the package until now. The President of the European Council hailed the news. There had been talk of stripping Hungary of its voting rights if Hungary did not agree. Hungary had wanted more EU aid for itself in return for approving aid for Ukraine, but then dropped this condition. The Hungarian Prime Minister still has cordial relations with Putin. Hungary has an exemption from sanctions which allows it to buy Russian oil and gas as normal. People in countries such as Slovakia have asked why they, too, cannot have such an exemption. The news will be met with delight and relief in Ukraine. Without more funds and arms Ukraine might soon collapse. EU aid will be debated again in 2025. This was a concession to Hungary, which is that the spending of the funds will be reviewed annually. In the US an aid package of USD 61 billion has been held up in Congress by Republican politicians who want concessions on border security in return for approving the aid.  On January 31 the EU held a summit for defense ministers to discuss military manufacturing. Ukraine says it is desperately low on shells and fires only 1 shell for every 5 fired by the Russians. The EU was supposed to deliver 1 million shells by March 1 but so far has only delivered 300,000. The target will almost certainly be missed by a wide margin.

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