The European Commission’s seven-year budget is already facing backlash, with Ursula von der Leyen’s request for €2 trillion from member states being slapped down by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other leaders.
One of the main voices against the budget is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who says it is designed to bring Ukraine into the EU as a member and hand Kyiv billions of euros.
“If we look only at financial aspects, we should see that in addition to the 20-25 percent of budget resources allocated to Ukraine, 10-12 percent of previously taken out loans go to loan repayments,” said Orbán in an interview with Kossuth Radio’s “Good Morning, Hungary” program.
Adding up money to Ukraine and debt repayments, 30 percent of the budget goes to areas that were not included in the previous seven-year budget, said the Hungarian prime minister.
“That’s why everyone in the European Union is shouting,” he added.
“The budget is a great science to understand, you have to be able to read not only what is written in it, but also what is hidden behind the lines,” Orbán said.
The Hungarian prime minister said the problem with the budget is that it does not have a clear strategic basis.
“If we do not know what it is for, then it cannot be good, because we must first answer what goals we want to achieve with it,” he said.
As far as Orbán is concerned, the main goal of the budget is to admit Ukraine into the EU.
A shocking new EU budget leak reveals a dangerous gamble: Ukraine would get a massive funding boost, while European farmers lose out. This plan risks sidelining rural Europe and threatening families across the continent. Brussels must not abandon Europe’s farmers to bankroll… pic.twitter.com/J74f27q1ND
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) July 16, 2025
“The EU budget has only one obvious purpose: to bring Ukraine into the EU, and these funds are transferred to Ukraine,” he said.
According to the prime minister, the right move would be not to accept the Ukrainians but to instead develop a kind of cooperative relationship with them.
He also said that not only is there uncertainty about Ukraine, but money is also being lost for agriculture. The prime minister asked the question: “What will happen to farmers if the EU does not support them in the future?”
The budget will not survive
According to Orbán, this budget will not survive, with EU countries lining up to reject it. This may be much more than bravado, as it is widely reported at the moment that a number of key EU leaders are coming out against the budget, most notably German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“A comprehensive increase in the EU budget is unacceptable at a time when all member states are making considerable efforts to consolidate their national budgets,” said Stefan Kornelius, spokesperson for Merz’s government. “We will therefore not be able to accept the Commission’s proposal.”
A path forward will not be easy, as Orbán notes that any EU budget agreement requires unanimous approval from all member states.
Given that the Commission is trying to tie rule-of-law sanctions to a variety of expanded areas, which countries like Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia are certain to reject, negotiations are expected to be intense.
During the last seven-year budget, many conservatives and those on the right criticized the previous Orbán government and their then Polish conservative allies for agreeing to the rule-of-law sanctions in exchange for signing off on the budget. The move turned out to be a bad one for Hungary, Poland, and other sovereignist-minded political parties. The EU froze tens of billions for both nations, and for Poland, only unfroze the money once the left-liberal Tusk government came to power. For Hungary, approximately €10 billion still remains frozen.
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