The European Union will be able work around any Hungarian veto and give Ukraine 50 billion euros ($53.4 bln) in aid, officials in the bloc said, as Kyiv struggles to push back Russia's invasion 21 months into the war.
Love you, AutoTL;DR, but your summary makes it seem as though the "Plan B" for getting aid money to Ukraine is to give Orban more money. This is not the case - the article refers to two different pieces of legislation, the first being getting aid money to Ukraine and the second being starting the process of Ukraine joining the EU, both of which Orban/Hungary opposes.
From the article re: aid to Ukraine:
If Budapest does wield its veto, two EU officials said the bloc had a way to get around it by asking each of the other EU governments to set up their own aid package with Kyiv. All together, the bilateral pacts would come to as much.
"Hungary risks overstretching its luck. We'd prefer to have them on board but there comes a point when people get fed up with Budapest holding everyone hostage. The workaround is tiresome but we have it if need be," one EU official said.
A second EU official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, agreed. "The issue of money for Ukraine will be solved one way or another, Kyiv will get EU support," the official said.
BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The European Union will be able work around any Hungarian veto and give Ukraine 50 billion euros ($53.4 bln) in aid, officials in the bloc said, as Kyiv struggles to push back Russia's invasion 21 months into the war.
The bloc's executive has proposed expanding budget support to help Ukraine pay salaries and meet other expenses as the conflict grinds on, and the EU's 27 member states are due to vote on the package at a Dec. 14-15 summit in Brussels.
But some worry the aid could be blocked by Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban who has touted his ties with Moscow and objected to similar support in the past.
After months of wrangling, Budapest finally agreed to the package after winning what it said were concessions from the bloc on aid to Hungary, and hearing that the EU would use a similar workaround to push it through anyway.
In power for more than a decade, Orban has been locked in increasingly bitter battles with others in the EU over a range of issues including democratic standards, foreign policy, migration and LGBT rights.
EU officials told Reuters last month that they were looking at unlocking at least some of that money as the bloc seeks to win Orban's vote for Ukraine.
The original article contains 575 words, the summary contains 216 words. Saved 62%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
I really hope the EU won't release the money Hungary hasn't received due to EU sanctions to have the deal pass.
Hungary has seen a tremendous amount of corruption by Orban and his family. It is a country whose leadership is incompatible with the EU ideas and managed to keep its power due to a stream of money from the EU while at the same time denouncing the EU.
Many of Orban's changes, among them abolishing free media, funneling money out of EU-funded projects, cutting LGBTQ rights, rightfully caused EU sanctions.
Having talked to a lot of Hungarian friends and acquaintances, most of them want the EU to stop handing out money to Orban. They believe that only then their leadership's corruption and incompetency will become apparent to the broad population and political change could become possible.