Some EU politicians have considered stripping Hungary of its voting rights in order to agree on a new aid package for Ukraine, Financial Times reports.
Politicians argue that Article 7 of the EU treaty provides for this, allowing a country to be stripped of its voting rights for violating European law.
Another member of the bloc can block the process of disenfranchising a European Union member country. However, after the recent elections in Poland, there is no guaranteed defence for Hungary in the European Union. Despite this, many countries are worried because of the possibility of using such a move, which can be called the EU’s biggest weapon against a member state.
If this move fails to have the desired impact, the 26 EU countries may conclude an aid agreement for Ukraine without Hungary’s participation, but this will take some time and will only be a short-term solution.
The EU also fears that Hungary could force the bloc’s allies to use other tools to negotiate an aid package for the Ukrainians.
Last week, EU leaders failed to agree on a €50bn financial aid package for Ukraine because the initiative was blocked by Hungary.
On 13 December, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also said that he would not allow the European Union to make a terrible mistake and start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the bloc, even if he remained the only one of the 27 leaders of the EU member states.
Earlier, the EU reported that Ukraine had fulfilled about 90 per cent of the conditions for EU accession.
