EU foreign chief Kaja Kallas said she expected “positive decisions” on Wednesday to unblock a badly needed 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) loan for Ukraine, as hopes rise Hungary will drop its veto.
“We expect some positive decisions tomorrow (Wednesday) on the 90 billion loan. Ukraine really needs this loan,” Kallas said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg Tuesday.
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Hungary’s outgoing nationalist leader Viktor Orban had held up the money as leverage in a feud with Ukraine over the damaged Druzhba pipeline carrying Russian oil.
But Budapest raised expectations of an imminent shift as it said that Kyiv could announce Tuesday that oil was flowing again.
The movement comes after Russia-friendly Orban suffered a crushing election defeat last week to end his 16 years at the helm.
As hopes rose, EU officials said Monday that they would seek to get the final greenlight to release the loan at an upcoming meeting of EU diplomats in Brussels.
EU member states need to unanimously approve an amendment to the bloc’s budget to get the loan going.
The Wednesday meeting would ascertain consensus before a written procedure is launched for final adoption.
EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said Brussels expected to start releasing the loan in May or early June -- even if it needed to wait for the incoming Hungarian government.
“All in all, I think it’s clear that we will be able to unblock the situation. If it happens this week, all the better,” he said.
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Kyiv needs the funds to plug looming budget black holes, but has managed to secure enough money from other backers in the meantime while Budapest has stalled the loan.
“They can wait till end May, early June, until our funding arrives,” Dombrovskis said.
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