EU unblocks €90bn loan
- EU ambassadors gave preliminary approval for a €90bn loan to Ukraine after Hungary and Slovakia dropped objections. - The breakthrough followed resumption of Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline that had been stalled. - Leaders called the package urgent, but its release depended on pipeline politics, showing transactional EU bargaining (bbc.com).
European Union ambassadors gave preliminary approval on April 22 to a €90 billion loan for Ukraine after Hungary and Slovakia dropped their objections. (consilium.europa.eu) The loan was agreed in principle by European Union leaders in December 2025 for 2026 and 2027, using European Union borrowing backed by the bloc’s budget. The money is meant to cover Ukraine’s state finances and defense needs. (consilium.europa.eu) The hold-up came after Russian strikes damaged the Druzhba oil pipeline in Ukraine, cutting supplies to Hungary and Slovakia and giving both governments leverage over the aid package. Brussels had been trying since February to move the legal framework through despite the veto threat. (politico.eu) Druzhba is a Soviet-era pipeline that carries Russian crude west through Ukraine. Slovakia said oil started flowing again early on April 23, and Hungary’s MOL said Ukraine had told it deliveries had resumed. (apnews.com) The European Commission proposed the package on January 14 and said the €90 billion would take the form of a “limited recourse loan.” That structure means repayment would be tied to future Russian reparations, rather than immediate payments from Kyiv. (enlargement.ec.europa.eu) European Union finance ministers and diplomats had treated the package as urgent because Ukraine faced a funding gap in 2026 and 2027, and Brussels had aimed for a first disbursement early in the second quarter of 2026. The delay pushed that timetable back. (consilium.europa.eu) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had linked his veto to the pipeline dispute, while Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico backed that position. European Union officials had discussed fallback plans outside the common budget if the blockade held. (politico.eu) The April 22 approval was preliminary, not the last procedural step. But it cleared the political obstacle that had tied one of the European Union’s biggest Ukraine funding packages to the restart of Russian oil transit through a war-damaged pipeline. (bbc.co.uk)
