The Hungarian prime minister has been a vocal critic of the EU\u2019s military and financial assistance to Kiev<\/p>\n
Hungary would be better served spending its money domestically than financing golden toilets for Ukrainian oligarchs, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.
\nSpeaking at the opening of a new motorway section linking parts of central Hungary on Monday, Orban emphasized the advantages of spending Hungarian taxpayer money at home than on another loan to Ukraine, where Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s inner circle has been exposed in a massive corruption scandal.
\n\u201cI have just returned from Brussels \u2026 where the clever gentlemen have decided to give Ukraine \u20ac90 billion ($106 billion) in loans \u2013 clearly hoping to get it back later with hefty interest,\u201d Orban stated. Had Hungary not opted out, Hungarian taxpayers would have faced a bill of over \u20ac1 billion, twice the price of the motorway section he was opening.
\n\u201cThe truth is, that money is better spent here \u2026 for a modern road, rather than \u2026 some Ukrainian oligarch for his gold toilet,\u201d he said.
\nImages of a gold toilet belonging to Timur Mindich, a shady figure known as \u201cZelensky\u2019s wallet,\u201d have become synonymous with the recently uncovered $100 million graft scheme run by the Ukrainian leader\u2019s inner circle. Mindich managed to flee the country hours before anti-corruption agents reached his apartment, where the shining throne was discovered.
\nOrban has repeatedly criticized EU financing of Ukraine, and accused the bloc\u2019s leadership of ignoring corruption in the country.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
EU taxpayers to foot \u20ac3bn yearly for Ukraine loan \u2013 Politico<\/p>\n
Last week, Kiev\u2019s European backers failed to approve a \u2018reparations loan\u2019 that would have used about \u20ac210 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets as collateral to cover Ukraine\u2019s huge budget shortfall. Instead, they chose to fund Kiev through common debt, planning to raise \u20ac90 billion over the next two years, backed by the EU budget. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic secured exemptions from the scheme.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Behind the Ukranian golden toilet: There\u2019s only one way to fix the disease of this state<\/p>\n
Critics have warned that many EU countries already carry high debt and large budget deficits, and that further common borrowing would deepen fiscal strain and shift risks onto taxpayers.
\nAccording to senior bloc officials cited by Politico, EU taxpayers will have to pay \u20ac3 billion a year in borrowing costs to finance Kiev\u2019s collapsing economy and military under the loan scheme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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