Hungary slams new EU budget, claims Ukraine gets 20%

Bóka announced that in this budget there are two clear "winners":

• the first – Ukraine,
• the second – the European Commission itself.

"According to my calculations (the European Commission – ed.), directly and indirectly concentrates in its hands such power and financial resources that are unprecedented in history," he emphasized.

According to him, Hungary conducted a preliminary analysis and concluded that not only under the Ukraine Facility program, but in general, directly or indirectly, Ukraine will receive about 20% of the EU budget for the next seven years.

"This means that every fifth euro in the budget – directly or indirectly – will go to Ukraine. I do not consider this a sustainable approach," Bóka said.

He also explained that, in addition to the Ukraine Facility program, Ukraine will receive support through the European Peace Facility, whose volume has almost doubled to 31 billion euros, with most of this money allocated specifically to Ukraine.

"Funding for the European defense industry in the MFF has increased fivefold, and one of the main goals of this is the support of Ukraine and its defense sector," the minister noted.

Additionally, according to him, the Global Europe program provides funding for issues related to Ukraine. And the creation of a new credit mechanism is foreseen, which is essentially unlimited within the budget reserve – for providing loans to Ukraine.

"If we summarize all this (and subtract the share of the budget that will go to repay previous EU debts), then it turns out that about 20% of the entire budget will be directed to Ukraine," he reported.

EU budget draft

It should be recalled that on July 16, the European Commission published a draft EU budget covering the period from 2028 to 2034. The total amount is 1.98 trillion euros, which exceeds the current seven-year budget of 1.2 trillion euros.

The budget provides for the creation of a competitiveness, prosperity, and security fund totaling 590 billion euros, of which 451 billion is intended to support European business.

Additionally, a separate line indicates funding for Ukraine in the amount of € 100 billion. The funds will be allocated toward the country's recovery, resilience, and European integration.

Earlier today, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán already complained about the new draft EU budget.

It is worth noting that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has already approved the Budget Declaration for 2026–2028.

The draft provides for two basic scenarios for the development of events: an optimistic one–with a gradual improvement of the security situation from 2026, and a pessimistic one – with the continuation of Russia’s full-scale aggression.