'Blackmail' charges fly in EU standoff over Ukraine

Hungary slammed the European Union for trying to "blackmail" it with a secret plan to wreck its economy for its refusal to endorse a four-year, 50 billion euro ($54 billion) aid package to Ukraine.

Citing a confidential EU document, the Financial Times reported on Monday that the EU has mapped out a strategy to spook investors by cutting off funding to Hungary if Budapest continues to block the use of EU budget to provide financial aid to Ukraine.

The EU will hold an extraordinary summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the Ukraine aid package.

According to the document, the EU has outlined a strategy to explicitly target Hungary's economic weakness, imperil its currency and drive a collapse in investor confidence in a bid to hurt "jobs and growth".

Hungary's Minister for EU Affairs Janos Boka reacted angrily on X to the FT report, saying that "Hungary does not give in to blackmail!"

"The document, drafted by #Brussels bureaucrats only confirms what the Hungarian Government has been saying for a long time: access to EU funds is used for political blackmailing by Brussels," he said.

"Brussels is using blackmail against Hungary like there's no tomorrow, despite the fact that we have proposed a compromise," Balazs Orban, political director of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said.

He reiterated what Boka said earlier that Hungary is open to using the EU budget for the Ukraine package and even issuing common debt to finance it, if other caveats were added that gave Budapest the opportunity to change its mind at a later date.

"Now it's crystal clear: This is blackmail and has nothing to do with the rule of law. And now they're not even trying to hide it!" he said.

"Whatever happens, change is needed in Brussels."

European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said on Monday they have seen the FT article, but "we have not seen this document and therefore are not in a position to comment".

"We're hoping to reach an agreement which will allow us to financially support Ukraine," he said.

On the possible tools used against Hungary, Mamer said instruments are at their disposal when conditions are met, but he did not mention why the EU would link two unrelated issues to pressure Hungary to drop its veto on the Ukraine aid package.

The secret EU document has triggered alarm online. Glenn Greenwald, famed journalist and co-founder of online news organization The Intercept, sighed at the revelation of the document.

"They're prepared to make EU citizens suffer greatly in order to fuel more war," he said on X, referring to the nearly two-year Russia-Ukraine conflict.

There have been many news reports that the EU might consider Article 7 of the Treaty of the EU against Hungary. Article 7 allows the EU to suspend a member state's voting rights in the Council of the EU for its serious breach of EU principles. But such a decision would require a four-fifths majority.

European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders told the media on Monday, "It's not possible for the (European) Commission to make a decision in the process."

Hungary has also been under pressure to ratify Sweden's NATO membership application after Turkiye approved the application last week. But PM Orban said last week that his government supports Swedish membership and will continue to urge the Hungarian National Assembly to vote in favor of the accession and conclude the ratification.