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EU has tools to bypass Hungary’s Ukraine loan veto but must show courage, Kallas says

By Thomson Reuters Mar 19, 2026 | 4:19 AM

BRUSSELS, March 19 (Reuters) – There are alternatives to overcome Hungary’s veto on a ​90 billion euro ($103 billion) ‌loan to Ukraine but they will need political courage from European leaders, EU foreign policy ‌chief ​Kaja Kallas said ⁠on Thursday.

“There are ⁠alternatives, but let’s see how this goes. It will also need some political ​character from all of us,” Kallas told reporters ⁠ahead of a ⁠European Council summit in ​Brussels.

Hungary is under pressure from ​fellow EU countries to lift ‌its veto, which Prime Minister Viktor Orban has defended amid a dispute with ⁠Kyiv over a war-damaged oil pipeline.

Kallas said that oil supplies from ⁠Croatia ‌could be a solution ⁠for Hungary, while ​she ‌added that Hungary was ​not acting “in ⁠good faith” with its resistance to the already agreed loan.

($1 = 0.8734 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by ​Bart Meijer)