BRUSSELS: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vetoed a big Euro­pean Union aid package for Kyiv on Friday, and said he could still halt Ukraine’s accession after EU leaders approved the start of lengthy membership talks.

Leaders of all 27 EU states, except Hungary, agreed at a summit on Thursday to start accession talks with Ukraine despite Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, bypassing Orban’s grievances by getting him to leave the room.

But they could not overcome resistance from Orban to a revamp of the EU budget to channel 50 billion euros ($55bn) to Ukraine and provide more cash for other tasks such as managing migration.

EU leaders said they would continue to help Kyiv. If no deal is found to do so within the EU budget, they will find workarounds, possibly with bilateral aid, they said.

The Kremlin praised the stance taken by Orban, who maintains close ties to Russia, but said the EU decision to open accession talks with Kyiv was politicised and could destabilise the bloc.

Orban, who has a history of trying to use disagreements with other EU leaders for his electoral benefit, told state radio he had blocked the aid package — part of a broader multi-year EU budget plan — to ensure Budapest gets funds from the EU budget that are frozen over concerns about the rule of law in Hungary.

“It is a great opportunity for Hungary to make it clear that it must get what it is entitled to. Not half of it, or one-fourth,” he said.

The European Comm­ission, the EU executive, restored Hungary’s access to 10.2 billion euros of frozen funds on Wed­n­esday after Budapest passed laws addressing some of the EU’s concerns, but funds worth billions of euros remain frozen.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the approval of membership talks as a victory for Ukraine and Europe.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2023