EU Unblocks €90B Loan
- The EU agreed to unblock a €90 billion loan to Ukraine after Hungary lifted a months-long veto. - That breakthrough came after Ukraine resumed pumping Russian oil through the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia. - The episode showed the bloc can marshal large funds for Kyiv but remains vulnerable to transactional energy leverage. (theguardian.com)
European Union ambassadors cleared a €90 billion loan for Ukraine on April 22 after Hungary dropped a veto it had held for months. (reuters.com) The package is meant to cover much of Ukraine’s financing needs in 2026 and 2027, with Brussels raising the money through joint European Union borrowing and backing it with the bloc’s budget. The European Commission proposed the loan on January 14 after European Union leaders endorsed the plan in December 2025. (ec.europa.eu) Hungary and Slovakia had tied their objections to a separate dispute over oil transit. Russian crude resumed flowing on April 22 through the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline after repairs to damage caused by a Russian strike in late January. (cnn.com) Hungarian oil group MOL said Ukrtransnafta told it the force majeure declared on January 27 ended at 6 p.m. on April 21, and Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Saková said deliveries to Slovakia were expected from April 23. Those notifications gave Budapest and Bratislava the basis to lift their opposition in Brussels. (bloomberg.com) The money matters because Ukraine is trying to fund both the war and the state at the same time. The Commission said the €90 billion loan would secure “continuous financial support” over two years as foreign aid becomes less predictable. (ec.europa.eu) The argument over the pipeline showed how a Soviet-era energy route still shapes European Union decisions in 2026. Druzhba remains a major supply line for landlocked refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, which won exemptions when the bloc curbed most Russian seaborne oil imports in 2022. (consilium.europa.eu) The same April 22 meeting also advanced a 20th sanctions package against Russia, linking aid for Kyiv and new pressure on Moscow in one negotiation. Diplomats told Reuters the measures and the loan moved together once Hungary and Slovakia stopped blocking them. (reuters.com) Hungary had argued that restoring oil transit was a practical condition, not a concession on support for Ukraine. Critics in Brussels have long said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán used veto power to extract leverage over unrelated European Union files, a pattern that has repeatedly delayed common decisions on Kyiv. (euronews.com) The loan still needs final formal steps, but European Union officials have said they want the first disbursement in the second quarter of 2026. After three months of deadlock, the cash is moving again on the same week the oil started moving too. (euronews.com)
