EU moves to unlock €90bn

European Union officials said on April 21 they expect a decision within days that would clear a €90 billion loan for Ukraine after Hungary’s blockade weakened. (euronews.com) European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in Luxembourg that she expected “positive decisions” on Wednesday, April 22. Reuters reported the package was originally agreed by all 27 member states in December 2025. (usnews.com) The European Commission proposed the loan on January 14 as support for 2026 and 2027, with €60 billion for military assistance and €30 billion for general budget support. The money would be raised through common European Union borrowing and guaranteed by unused space in the bloc’s budget. (ec.europa.eu) For 2026 alone, Brussels plans to disburse €45 billion, split into €16.7 billion in financial support and €28.3 billion in military support. Euronews reported those payments would be tied to Ukrainian reform conditions, including anti-corruption commitments. (euronews.com) The holdup was one budget regulation that required unanimity, giving Viktor Orbán’s government the power to stall the entire mechanism. Other parts of the package were moving through procedures that excluded Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic after they secured opt-outs from participation in the loan. (euronews.com; ec.europa.eu) Orbán linked his veto to a separate dispute over oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude to Hungary. Kyiv said the line was damaged in a Russian drone attack, while Budapest accused Ukraine of using the outage to shape Hungary’s April 12 election. (euronews.com) That election changed the arithmetic in Brussels. Bloomberg reported on April 13 that the European Union moved to finalize the loan after Orbán’s defeat, and Reuters said the loss to Péter Magyar could now open the way for approval. (bloomberg.com; usnews.com) Even with a green light this week, the money is not expected to arrive overnight. European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said Ukraine had financing covered until late May or early June from other allies, and the first European Union tranche is expected around that same period. (euronews.com; yahoo.com) The immediate question is no longer whether Brussels has drafted the package, but whether Hungary’s veto disappears in time for the final procedural vote. If it does, the European Union will move from months of internal blockage to the slower work of borrowing, conditioning and paying out the cash. (euronews.com; ec.europa.eu)