Hungary Blocks $18 Billion Aid Package for Ukraine, Puts NATO Status at Risk

Newsmax ^ | 12/6/22 | Marisa Herman

[JonPreston]

In November the EU proposed to give impoverished Ukraine — with over 80% of its nation without electricity, among other necessities — $18.6 billion in critical humanitarian aid, including support for energy and healthcare facilities.

But Hungary has vetoed the transfer of the critical aid package.

Budapest has stood out as the only member of the 27 country organization to block the EU package, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban having effective veto power because EU budget rules require the unanimous approval of all 27 member countries.

American and European officials have been noting Orban's "persistent pattern" of obstructionism in aid to Ukraine, with some saying the East European state is even at risk of losing its NATO membership.

[Cronos]

Orban is blackmailing the EU for them to give him more money. Nothing else

[Cronos]

“Western lackeys like him” - Ivanpresto.

You really hate the west, don’t you Ivan?

[Cronos]

Hungarians are the third largest minority population at 156,600 people.

So they are about 0.3% of Ukraine’s population.

There is no indication that they have suffered casualties, though they definitely must have some fighting Putin’s invasion forces

[mac_truck]

Hungry gets it. Why doesn’t Poland?

Great question...both countries get heavily sanctioned by the EU over immigration, nationalism and/or not supporting rainbow fascism, you'd think the Poles would figure out they're being used.

[Cronos]

Most likely a mix of Catholic or Orthodox and perhaps even Lutherans.

Putin’s war on Ukraine doesn’t care about the religion of the people they kill

[webheart]

Impoverished…. 60 billion dollars. Yeah that’s poverty all right.

[Cronos]

Actually it’s the othe way around. Hungary wants money from the EU and is now blocking aid to Ukraine unless orban gets his own money

[jimwatx]

“you’d think the Poles would figure out they’re being used.”

The Poles are just as stupid and greedy as their Ukrainian cousins, they are hoping for a windfall of money from the EU and NATO for being a good lackey.

[caww]

I think that’s going to continue to happen where countries back out of funding Ukraine.....

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

Good for them!!!!

[mac_truck]

There is no indication that they have suffered casualties,

The red arrow points to the oblast where the Hungarian minority live on this map of Ukie casualties, and its obvious they're being used as cannon fodder.

[caww]

Just have him take you off his ping list in e-mail. Simple.

[Vaduz]

Indeed note finger

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

There is. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Article 60, covers the termination or suspension of a treaty in the event of its breach.

Sorry, but there isn't. And I know the argument has been made in a couple of places, but the people making that argument missed a couple of very salient points:

First, Article IV of that Convention (deemed ratified in 1980) expressly states that it is not retroactive, and applies only to treaties signed after the effective date of the Vienna Convention. NATO was formed three decades prior, in 1949. So by its own terms, the Convention doesn't apply to NATO.

Second, a bunch of NATO memmbers, including the U.S., haven't even ratified the Convention, so it wouldn't be of any force within NATO anyway.

Basically, the convention amounts to a set of default rules that are intended to be automatically incorporated into all future treaties. Similar conventions exist in the law both nationally and internationally.

But one of the basic concepts of those conventions is that it is a set of default rules only, and parties to specific agreements are free to contract out of the convention if they so choose.

But in this case, because the NATO treaty was formed prior to the existence of the convention anyway, it cannot be assumed to be incorporated into its text, and has no force or effect. They made that clear with Article 4. o it doesn't.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Because there is a lot of overlap between the membership of the EU and NATO. So if members of the EU are ticked, then those se.mbers are going to be ticked when wearing their NATO hats.

Doesn't really matter though, because Hungary can't be kicked out of NATO anyway. When NATO was being formed, there were a bunch of proposals put forward that would provide for a means to expel members, but they were all rejected.

[dforest]

So what?

[John S Mosby]

Keeping Poland and Ukraine fighting each other fulfills Germany’s policy manipulation, which they have done for centuries and now within the EU, which Germany (thanks to years of Merkel) thinks they RUN!

Germany does not run the EU. The UK is out— Brexit. Italy is next—buh bye, and thus the EU thinks it has NATO as a tool. Victor Orban is exercising his veto as an EU member state’s leader to veto a budget expenditure of the EU, ie. giving Ukraine (not an EU member state,only a candidate, which by now is showing they have nothing to contribute to EU) the proposed billions. By so doing, Victor Orban is shoving the EU’s faces into the mud, because they specifically have NOT paid Coronavirus compensation agreed to by all EU member states to be paid out to each of the EU member states as laid out in the EU’s Coronavirus recovery budget. Victor Orban is exercising Hungary’s rights to equal treatment in the EU. The EU thinks (Germany) more precisely) that it calls the shots.

[JonPreston]

I know the argument has been made in a couple of places

Show us.

[DannyTN]

Orban isn't opposed to aiding Ukraine, just doesn't like the way the EU is going about it.

“The question is how to help Ukraine,” Orban said. “One proposal says that we should use the budgets of the EU member states to take out new loans together and use that money to give to Ukraine. We are not in favor of this because we do not want the European Union to become a community of indebted states instead of a community of cooperating member states.”

"Orban proposed that each of the EU’s 27 member states draw from its own budget to provide assistance to Ukraine through bilateral agreements.

Orban earlier indicated that Hungary would be willing to provide Ukraine with 60-70 billion forints ($152-$178 million) from its own budget on bilateral terms — an amount he said would not fundamentally harm Hungary’s national interests.

Orban says Hungary will stick to veto of EU-Ukraine aid plan

[jimwatx]

“Italy is next—buh bye”

Yup I’m expecting them to be the next major country to rebel against the EU dictates. Ultimately I expect the EU to crumble as Germany’s economy is unsustainable without cheap Russian energy, and it’s just a matter of time before the Germans themselves come to this realization. It will probably take a civil uprising for them to change course.