Estonian foreign minister: Ukraine will get €50 billion EU aid in any case

According to Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200), Ukraine will receive €50 billion in aid from the EU irrespective of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's move to block the funds.

Tsahkna said that there are different ways of providing the aid promised to Ukraine, ERR reports.

"It has been agreed that we can provide the finances, so that Ukraine actually gets its money. The decision on the big €50 billion fund, I think we will get done by the end of this year or early next year. So, in fact Ukraine will get the money. We'll find a way, in any case, for the other 26 countries to agree on this financing and it will be done formally in a different way, through different channels," Tsahkna said.

"The real issue is that this money is all on top of what we normally contribute to the European Union budget and this money still comes out of the pockets of the net contributors. The separate fund for military aid comes from the additional contributions of all the member states. We have taken this into account, our budgets have also already been planned to account for this money over the coming years, and we will provide this money given in any case," he added.

While the €50 billion in aid was blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Friday, he did not veto the decision to open EU accession talks with Ukraine, leaving the room during the vote instead. Tsahkna admitted that the decision to open accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova was in the balance, but a lot of pressure was put on Orbán.

"I think a few hours before, nobody was sure what Orbán would do or what to do with him. The pressure on Orbán was tremendous, both bilaterally and collectively, and not only from the EU member states, but also from all the other allies," said Tsahkna.