If oil flows resume through the Druzhba pipeline, then Viktor Orbán should lift his "technical veto" on the €90 billion loan for Ukraine, Péter Magyar said. Brussels is already laying the groundwork to make the first payment.
Péter Magyar, the winner of the Hungarian elections and the country's incoming prime minister, has called on Viktor Orbán to lift his controversial veto on the €90 billion loan for Ukraine before vacating his office in May.
The financial scheme was agreed by the 27 leaders of the European Union in December, but Orbán used his veto in mid-February to block the legal procedure over an unrelated dispute with Kyiv involving the Druzhba pipeline, which carries low-cost Russian oil.
The spat featured prominently in Orbán's failed re-election campaign.
"Viktor Orbán accepted the loan (in December), and he said during the election campaign that as long as there is no oil, there is no money," Magyar said on Wednesday during his first interview with the Hungarian public broadcaster since 2024.
Magyar referred to the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who this week said the pipeline could be repaired "not completely, but enough to function" by the end of the month. The infrastructure was badly damaged in January by Russian drones.
The restoration of flows will be "very important for our country", Magyar said, signalling his desire to continue purchases of Russian oil in the near term.
"In the next 30 days, the Orbán government is still operating as an executive government," Magyar added.
"So I think, if Druzhba restarts, Viktor Orbán will release his technical veto."
Only one element of the €90 billion loan, a regulation amending the EU budget that requires unanimity, is still on hold. In principle, Orbán could order his ambassador in Brussels to lift the veto at any time and complete the legislative procedure.
