Shmyhal: "all 27 EU members have previously supported assistance to Ukraine"
However, negotiations in the EU on assistance to Ukraine have become "complicated" due to Hungary's position
Another EU summit is scheduled for Thursday of next week, and European leaders will once again try to agree on financial aid for Ukraine.
Although Reuters sources report that consultations are difficult because of Hungary's position, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal made much more optimistic statements on Friday.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, during a government meeting, Shmyhal expressed hope that a €50 billion aid package for Kyiv would be approved during the February summit.
"We can preliminarily say that all 27 EU members have agreed to support this program," Shmyhal said.
The support program for Ukraine, known as the Ukraine Facility, is designed for four years.
According to Reuters, the approval of the package is still complicated by the position of Hungary, which, according to the agency, among other things, proposes to allocate funds to Ukraine annually by a unanimous decision of EU members.
"The negotiations are becoming more and more difficult...Hungary's position is not very flexible on this," the source said.
The official, who is involved in the preparations for the summit, also said that there is growing dissatisfaction with Hungary's position among other EU members who favor supporting Ukraine.
According to the Reuters source, some of Orban's proposals (for example, the need to approve aid to Ukraine unanimously every year) remain unacceptable to other EU member states.
"No EU member state wants to be in a situation where they have to go through unanimous decisions to send aid to Ukraine," Reuters quoted the European official as saying.
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