EU ambassadors agreed on assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 18 billion euros

According to the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the aid package will now be considered by the European Parliament. On December 10, the EU approved this amount to be allocated to the Kyiv regime as financial assistance. The money is supposed to be provided next year as a loan with a maturity of 35 years - from 2033.

During the same meeting, the ambassadors also agreed on a minimum tax on the profits of large companies at 15%.

It should be noted that Hungary not only achieved the allocation of 5.8 billion euros in grants for recovery from the pandemic, subject to the completion of 27 anti-corruption reforms and the independence of the judiciary. The EU countries have agreed to freeze financing of Hungary for 6.3 billion euros. At first, it was about freezing 7.5 billion euros, but because of this, Budapest blocked the package of aid to Kyiv. On December 14, the decision on Hungary will be finalized in a written procedure.

Thus, Hungary became the first state to which the rule of law conditionality was applied, according to which the problems of erosion of the fundamental values of the EU in a number of member states are expected.

In September, the European Commission demanded a freeze on obligations to pay approximately 7.5 billion euros to Budapest from the general budget of the European Union, explaining this as a violation of the rule of law in Hungary and an insufficient level of combating corruption.

Earlier, because of the position of Hungary, there was a split in the EU, when Budapest vetoed a package of financial assistance to Kiev. Analysts note that a country with a population of 9.7 million people managed to blackmail the European Union, where about half a billion people live.

The day before, the Foreign Ministers of the EU countries agreed to increase funding for the European Peace Fund in 2023, from which funds are allocated for military assistance to Ukraine. Next year, they intend to increase funding for the fund by 2 billion euros, and by 2027 - by 5.5 billion euros.