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Hungary lists two demands in exchange for lifting veto on Ukraine aid
After derailing December’s summit, Hungary has made fresh demands to Brussels in exchange for a lift on its veto on the European Union’s proposed €50-billion fund for Ukraine.
The envelope, known as the Ukraine Facility, is meant to provide Kyiv with financial assistance between 2024 and 2027 to plug its ballooning public deficit, sustain essential services and pay for reconstruction efforts.
Under the original plan, the Facility was supposed to be already up and running, as Brussels has run out of financial aid for the war-torn nation.
But during a dramatic meeting of the European Council last month, Viktor Orbán waged his veto power to strike down the proposal, which is pegged to a wider review of the bloc’s common budget.
It stalled the EU’s support at a critical time, as Washington also struggled to overcome Republican opposition to approve a new package of military aid. The impasse on both sides of the Atlantic has put Kyiv in an increasingly precarious situation, with Russia stepping up its brutal barrage of air strikes.
However, there’s a glimmer of hope: EU leaders are set to convene again on 1 February to give the Facility a second chance.
Hungary’s two demands
Ahead of the make-or-break date, Hungary has touted an idea to split the package into four annual envelopes, worth €12.5 billion each, according to diplomats with knowledge of the negotiations.
In practice, the divvy-up means that EU leaders would need to give their unanimous approval every year until the cash pot is exhausted. Doing so would run counter to the Facility’s aim to provide long-term, predictable assistance, as it would allow Orbán, or any other head of government, to block the aid as early as next year.
Hungary has also made an unrelated demand about the bloc’s COVID-19 recovery funds, the diplomatic sources said speaking on condition of anonymity.
Under current rules, member states have until the end of August 2026 to complete the milestones and targets necessary to access all the grants and loans they have been allocated. Otherwise, the money that remains unused will be lost.
Budapest is demanding an extra two years be added to this deadline, something that would require re-opening the extraordinary legislation that set up the recovery fund. The reason for this particular request lies in the fact that Hungary has been denied access to its national plan over rule-of-law concerns and could be left with a narrow timetable to spend the funds – if it ever manages to unblock them.
Hungary’s recovery and resilience plan is worth €10.4 billion, of which only €920 million have been released. Separately, the country has €11.5 billion in cohesion funds in the freezer due to a wide array of concerns over public procurement, conflicts of interests, academic freedom and LGBTQ+ rights.
Orbán has repeatedly denounced the situation as “financial blackmail” and his deputies have publicly said the more than €20 billion should be unfrozen – in their entirety – before a decision on the Ukraine Facility can be made.
The quid-pro-quo has intensified since December’s catastrophic summit, resulting in what one diplomat called a “very transactional” attitude, an undisguised “trade-off.”
Another diplomat noted that Hungary was “completely alone” on both the division of the Ukraine Facility and the two-year extension of the recovery funds. Germany was especially critical regarding this second demand.
Hope still alive
Nevertheless, the fact that Budapest is at least floating ideas, rather than inflexibly sticking to its veto, suggests the atmosphere has become more constructive, even if it remains fraught, and there might be limited space for a compromise of sorts.
Ambassadors approved on Wednesday a “partial negotiating mandate” to allow Belgium, the country that currently holds the EU Council’s rotating presidency, to start formal talks with the European Parliament as soon as a solution on the Facility is found.
The mandate, as the name says, is “partial” because it does not include the specific details of the special fund, namely the financial figures. These gaps can only be filled once leaders meet in February and discuss the topic vis-à-vis.
If the 27 member states fail – again – to achieve a breakthrough, Brussels will be forced to design an alternative scheme outside the EU budget with the buy-in of 26 countries only to keep money flowing to Kyiv.
ADVERTISEMENTIn a recent social media post, Orbán appeared to welcome the so-called Plan B.
“It’s good to see that the European Commission is preparing a plan B for the 1st of February, according to which financial support given to Ukraine could be managed outside the EU budget,” the Hungarian leader wrote. “This is a good decision! The Commission’s plan B is the Hungarian plan A!”
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English police are facing mounting scrutiny after officers handcuffed an 18-year-old university student as he bled to death following a fatal stabbing, allegedly after believing the attacker’s false claim that he had been the victim of a racist assault.
The case has sparked outrage across Britain, fueled political debate over policing and prompted calls for the release of body-worn camera footage from the responding officers.
Alan Mendoza, executive director and co-founder of the London-based Henry Jackson Society think tank, told Fox News Digital that the case reflected broader failures in British policing culture. “The killing of Henry Nowak shows how far the rot of political correctness has set into the British policing mentality,” Mendoza said.
“The reflex attitude today appears to be to believe any and every claim that mentions racism,” he added. “It clearly trumped actual murder in this case as a dying Mr. Nowak was arrested on the say-so of his Sikh assailant without any facts being established by the officers attending.”
BRITISH POLICE RELEASE DETAILS ON SUSPECTS AFTER ‘SHOCKING’ TRAIN ATTACK, UPDATE ON VICTIMS
Freshman student Henry Nowak was stabbed many times by Vikram Digwa who used an eight inch ceremonial knife in December 2025. Digwa was found guilty of murder last week. (Hampshire police handout.)
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was convicted Thursday at Southampton Crown Court of murdering Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old finance student at the University of Southampton, during a confrontation on Dec. 3, 2025.
Officers arriving at the chaotic scene initially treated Nowak as the suspect after Digwa allegedly claimed he had been racially abused and attacked. Officers handcuffed Nowak before realizing the severity of his injuries. He later collapsed and died at the scene despite attempts to administer first aid, according to Sky News.
Following the verdict, Hampshire Constabulary publicly apologized and referred the case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), England and Wales’ police watchdog, for investigation. “I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested in the moments before he lost consciousness,” Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Robert France said in a statement reported by Sky News.
Prosecutors told jurors Digwa stabbed Nowak multiple times using a 21-centimeter blade described in court as a Sikh kirpan-style weapon. Digwa claimed he acted in self-defense after being racially abused, but jurors rejected that argument and found him guilty of murder.
The case has since ignited fierce public debate online and in British media over whether police prioritized allegations of racism over basic investigative and medical procedures.
TEXAS PRESS CONFERENCE IN AUSTIN METCALF KILLING DEVOLVES INTO CHAOS OVER TRACK MEET STABBING
Handout photo issued by Hampshire Police of Vickrum Digwa who has been found guilty at Southampton Crown Court of the murder of university student Henry Nowak, who he stabbed to death with a Sikh kirpan ceremonial knife. Digwa told police a “wicked lie” that he was the victim of a racist attack after he stabbed finance student Henry Nowak, from Chafford Hundred, Essex, five times in the incident in Belmont Road, Southampton, on Dec. 3 2025. Issue date: Thursday, May 28, 2026. (Press Association via AP Images)
Speaking on GB News on Friday, Reform UK Member of Parliament Robert Jenrick called for the release of body-worn camera footage if the Nowak family consents.
“The officers chose to prioritize the accusation of racial abuse over saving the life of this young man,” Jenrick said. “I think that was a terrible mistake.”
Jenrick also criticized what he described as a muted response from Britain’s political establishment compared to reactions following the 2020 death of George Floyd in the United States.
“The Prime Minister says absolutely nothing. The Home Secretary says absolutely nothing.”
The killing has also raised concerns about hostility toward Britain’s Sikh community, which Sikh organizations have sought to distance from the crime.
In a public statement issued following the verdict, Sikh community organizations condemned the killing and stressed that the case should not be viewed as representative of Sikhism.
2 JEWISH MEN STABBED IN LONDON ATTACK CLASSIFIED AS TERRORISM
File of a police car in Derbyshire, England. (Derbyshire Constabulary via Facebook)
“Henry’s life has tragically been cut short by a moment of madness by an individual for which there can be no excuses,” the statement said.
The organizations also acknowledged that “the actions of police officers who handcuffed the victim just before he died” had intensified criticism of police and “unnecessarily stirred up community hatred.”
The statement further emphasized that legal protections allowing Sikhs in Britain to carry ceremonial kirpans for religious purposes do not apply if the blade is used violently.
“We understand in this case the weapon that may have been used was not the normal Kirpan worn by fully practicing Sikhs,” the statement read.
Mendoza stressed that Britain’s Sikh community broadly condemned the murder and supported the investigation.
“It’s legal for Sikhs to carry ceremonial knives in the U.K. but they are almost always tiny ones that religious authorities have ordained are sufficient to fulfil the obligation,” Mendoza told Fox News Digital. “He had one of those, plus his [8 inch] blade.”
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A member of the London Met Police stands guard outside Westminster Abbey. (BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
He also described Digwa as “a weapons nut,” referencing evidence presented during the trial that prosecutors said showed the defendant had a fascination with knives and weapons.
The IOPC investigation into the officers’ actions remains ongoing. Fox News Digital reached out to Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi accuses China of lacking military transparency and stresses the importance of dialogue for regional stability.
Published On 31 May 2026
Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has dismissed claims that Tokyo is pursuing “new militarism” and accused China of rapidly expanding its military with limited transparency.
China continues to increase its defence spending at a high level, Koizumi said on Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
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“China’s external approach and military activities are matters of serious concern for Japan and the international community at the same time,” he added.
“Think about it. There’s a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers. Japan has neither of such weapons, and yet Japan is labelled ‘new militarism’?”
Koizumi said Japan’s record since World War II “speaks for itself”, citing its adherence to international law and commitment to the United Nations Charter alongside efforts to uphold a “free and open international order”.
In May, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Asia Pacific countries to be vigilant and “jointly resist the reckless actions of Japan’s neo-militarism”.
At the Singapore forum, Chinese delegate Major General Meng Xiangqing criticised Japan.
“I deeply doubt whether a country that has not thoroughly eradicated the toxic legacy of militarism is qualified to talk extensively about defence cooperation on international occasions and whether it can win the trust of the international community, especially the Asian countries it once invaded,” he said.
Ties between Japan and China sank to their worst level in years after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could draw a Japanese military response.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory over the objections of the island’s government.
Koizumi said transparency comes from “discussion and dialogue” and lamented that China had not sent its defence minister to the conference, but he insisted Japan remains open to engagement.
“We keep the door open,” he said, reaffirming Japan’s commitment to dialogue with China and other regional players to foster stability.
As China has been rapidly expanding and modernising its military, Japan has been reshaping its own defence policy. Last month, Takaichi’s cabinet scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change in its post-war pacifist policy.
Japan pushes for unity
Separately on Sunday, Koizumi praised US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for his commitment to the Asia Pacific but at the same time stressed the continued need for strong coalitions globally.
“Division weakens deterrence. Unity strengthens deterrence,” he told the conference in Singapore.
“If gaps emerge among the United States, Europe and allies and like-minded countries, forces which take it as an opportunity will surely come in,” he said.
“We must prevent such a situation. We must keep our cooperation going on. Now is the time to make our cooperation even stronger.”
US President Donald Trump has been harsh about fellow members in NATO, and the comments at the Shangri-La conference came the day after Hegseth again chided Western European allies at the forum for not devoting enough resources to defence.
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