BUDAPEST, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that he has rejected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's request for member states to contribute funds to support Ukraine.
Speaking on public radio Kossuth, Orban said he has drafted a reply letter to the European Union (EU) chief, adding that Hungary will outline the reasons for declining the proposal and offer alternatives. He also said that Brussels must change course on its approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict: "The essence of my proposal is that we must turn back from a path that has proved to be a dead end in European politics."
He further said that von der Leyen's appeal, sent to all 27 EU leaders earlier this week, calls for a rapid agreement in December on how to cover Ukraine's projected 135.7-billion-euro (156.3 billion U.S. dollars) military and financial needs for 2026-2027.
Von der Leyen describes the funding challenge as "particularly acute," and outlines three options: voluntary bilateral contributions, joint EU borrowing backed by national guarantees, and a reparations loan based on Russia's immobilized assets.
Orban has rejected all three approaches, saying Hungary cannot divert significant domestic resources, support joint borrowing, or approve the use of frozen Russian assets, calling the latter "absurd."
He said that von der Leyen's proposal would "undermine the entire global economic system, the international framework for managing foreign exchange reserves -- or at least its European pillar." ■