EU united on Ukraine, despite Hungary dissent, Dutch PM says; Stresses debt limits

Prime Minister Dick Schoof considers the European Union united when it comes to supporting Ukraine, despite Hungary refusing to agree to additional aid, he said after a summit of European leaders in Brussels on Thursday. He reiterated a well-known line from the Netherlands - “There is no fiddling with budget rules” and member states need to maintain responsible debt limits, NOS reports.

Schoof called the European summit constructive, despite Hungary’s dissent. The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, is a known ally of Russia and threatened in advance that he would not agree to additional support for Ukraine. The 26 other member states decided to agree on support without Hungary.

“Orbán has a different view on how we can achieve peace,” Schoof said. “That is allowed.” According to him, there was hardly any attempt to change the Hungarian Prime Minister’s mind.

According to Schoof, this does not send the message that the EU does not value unity. “There are still 25 member states that agreed, so there is a great deal of unity within Europe.”

All 27 member states did agree on pushing at least 800 billion euros into European defense in the next four years. The European leaders agreed to set normal budget rules aside for this additional investment in defense.

Schoof said that he stressed “that there is no fiddling with budget rules” and that the rules do not need to be relaxed to invest more in European defense. “Within the existing budget, it is possible to make certain exceptions,” he said.

He said that no concrete plans have been made about these additional Defense investments. The European leaders only agreed on outlines. “These are now being worked out urgently. Proposals will emerge from this, and we will discuss them in parliament.”