There is a back-up plan: the EU is preparing extra-budgetary financing for Ukraine to bypass Hungary’s veto.

EU diplomats are discussing technical proposals to attract emergency funding for Ukraine outside the bloc’s common budget if Hungary does not waive its veto on a four-year €50B support package to Kyiv.

“The negotiations, which involve representatives of the EC and large EU member states, are being kept secret so as not to undermine the main goal of overcoming Budapest’s veto, as Orbán has said he does not object to aid sent from other EU countries,” writes FT.

An off-budget instrument will take longer and incur more interest and other costs. “No one wants to do this unless we have to. But it would be foolish not to have a plan B,” one of the publication’s sources said.

Ukrainian and European officials warn that the EU’s failure to agree on the proposed financing package will seriously affect Ukraine’s financial stability.

At the same time, the Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs, Janos Boka, said that Budapest insists that any aid to Kyiv cannot come from the common EU budget.