European Union leaders have failed to convince Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to lift his blockade on a vital €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine, officials have said.
"They tried. They failed," one European official said of the efforts by other EU leaders to convince Mr Orban at a summit in Brussels.
EU leaders agreed to the loan in December but Mr Orban, who has cordial ties with Russia and has clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has blocked its implementation, citing a dispute over a war-damaged pipeline.
Mr Orban's stance has angered other EU leaders as Kyiv could run short of money in weeks if it does not receive new funding and his U-turn has called into question the credibility of the European Council, the EU's highest decision-making body.
"It was intense, a lot of pressure on Orban that (EU summit) decisions are respected by all," another European official said after the leaders discussed the Ukraine loan.
A third European official, referring to Mr Orban, said: "Discussion was tough and rough, but Viktor is still not budging." A fourth official said: "Everyone is increasingly angry with Orban."
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential discussions between leaders.
Dutch PM says Orban's veto is 'unacceptable'
As they arrived at the summit this morning, many of the leaders had piled pressure on Mr Orban.
"We have to be clear: Hungary's veto is unacceptable, the extra support for Ukraine has to be delivered as quickly as possible," Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said.
"He's using Ukraine as a weapon in his election campaign,and it's not good," Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said, referring to the 12 April election in Hungary and accusing Mr Orban of betraying fellow EU leaders.
Mr Orban, a nationalist ally of US President Donald Trump, has often been a thorn in the side of mainstream EU politicians but had not previously gone back on a deal agreed among EU leaders, diplomats say.
Many EU officials are particularly exasperated by Mr Orban's blockade as he secured an opt-out from paying for the costs of the loan, along with the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
But Mr Orban signalled he was in no mood to back down.
"We are waiting for the oil, the rest is fairy tales," he said as he arrived at the summit, referring to the damaged Druzhba pipeline.
The pipeline carried Russian oil through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia but was damaged by a Russian attack in January, officials say. Ukraine says it will take some time to repair. Hungary says it is already ready to operate.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever raised the prospect that the EU may have to wait until after Hungary's election to implement the loan.
No other option, says Ukraine
With Russia's war in Ukraine in its fifth year, Kyiv is grappling with a ballooning budget deficit and has said there were no alternative financing options if the €90 billion loan remained blocked.
Ukraine's government spends the bulk of its revenues on defence and depends on foreign financial aid to pay pensions, public sector wages, and other social spending.
If the loan is not approved soon, the government will have to start cutting expenditures and resort to printing money, political analysts said.
"This money is not charity; this is an investment in countering Russian aggression and maintaining peace in Europe," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.
Attack on Iranian gas field 'unacceptable' - Taoiseach
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has described as "unacceptable" Israel's attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field, which in turn prompted Iran’s retaliatory strike on Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility, the world’s largest liquified natural gas complex.
He has joined EU leaders for the summit in Brussels as Europe confronts a deepening series of challenges brought on by the Iran war.
Mr Martin told reporters: "Any further attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East is unacceptable. It will have long-term repercussions for the energy market and all sides need to desist from such attacks."
Asked if Europe should do more to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the Taoiseach said: "The most effective way to all of that is a de-escalation of this conflict. The Iranians have responsibilities.
"Their reckless and irresponsible attacks on the Gulf are absolutely unacceptable. They're threatening EU citizens by those attacks, endangering them and people who have no involvement in this.
"But I think in all conflict situations, all actors have a role in terms of enabling a de-escalation and an end to the conflict.
"Europe has channels, and I think Europe will be ready to play a constructive role in endeavouring to resolve those outstanding issues."
On energy costs, Mr Martin said the Government had instruments within social protection which could be used to support people through soaring energy costs, but he warned about the risks of inflation.
"We will look at the full gamut of areas where we can give some support to people. What's important is to point out the volatility of all of this.
"We've just had a significant escalation this morning in terms of gas prices because of further action in Qatar and elsewhere, so we're very conscious of the volatility of this."
He said there would be a short and medium-term dimension to the Government’s response.
"We've got to look at the broader potential implications over the rest of the year. It is a very serious situation, and we're very conscious of the impact this can have.
"Our immediate priority is to try and alleviate pressures on people, on families in particular, and then to make sure that we can do it in a way that doesn't do any damage to the economy or doesn't create any secondary effects in terms of inflation," added Mr Martin.
As well as the growing energy crisis, leaders in Brussels are due to address the continuing calls for support from the Trump administration to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The challenges that EU leaders were supposed to be dealing with at the summit - how to boost competitiveness, and reduce energy costs - have been overshadowed by the US-Israel attack on Iran, but they are also linked.
European leaders are still largely hostile to military support for Donald Trump’s war of choice - for many reasons, but not least because he consulted none of his European allies.
Yet, officials admit that saying this is not our war is not a long-term strategy if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and oil and gas prices continue to rise.
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The EU is also increasingly angered by Israel's assault on Lebanon, which has internally displaced a million people, and the European External Action Service called on Israel last night to cease its operations there.
Officials have pointed out the huge volume of missiles and drones that Iran has launched at tiny Gulf states, whose progress had been based on the notion that they were islands of stability in a turbulent region.
For this and other reasons, diplomats have said that Europe cannot simply wish the war away.
Of equal concern is Hungary’s continued blocking of €90bn in loans for Ukraine.
What makes this a deeply personal dispute is that Mr Orbán agreed to the loan in the presence of fellow leaders in December before reneging on it.
Additional reporting Reuters
