Negotiations with the European Union over 50 billion euros in aid to Ukraine have become “more difficult” as Hungary shows no flexibility ahead of a summit on the issue next week, a senior EU official said on Friday, as quoted by Reuters.

At the December summit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán blocked an amendment to the EU budget regarding the inclusion of aid to Ukraine. EU leaders will again try to reach an agreement on this package at a new summit next Thursday, News.ro reminds.

Relations with Ukraine are strained in the government of Viktor Orban, who will begin to chair the EU Council on July 1. The Hungarian leader has maintained close ties with Russia and left the room when EU leaders gave the green light to open EU accession talks with Kyiv at a summit in December.

“The negotiations are getting a bit more difficult, Hungary’s position has not been very flexible on this issue,” said a senior EU official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official involved in preparations for the summit added that among other EU countries that want to provide more aid to Ukraine, there is a growing level of disillusionment with Hungary.

The official said some of the ideas proposed by Orbán, such as making aid to Ukraine unanimously approved every year, were unacceptable to other EU members.

“No member state wants to get into a situation where you have to go through unanimity to give support to Ukraine,” the official said.

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