Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Administration of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has claimed that the agreement with the EU concerning new long-term funding for Ukraine will not be reached soon.

According to Telex, Gulyás said Budapest was negotiating with the European Commission about financial support for Ukraine but their positions are very different so there is no certainty they will reach an agreement.

But "this is not a tragedy", Gulyás noted, adding that the decision may still be made by 2026 when the seven-year financial deadline regulating the EU annual budget ends.

At the same time he remarked that "Hungary does not exclude bilateral support for Ukraine".

Earlier, the media reported that Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán made it clear to the EU that he was ready to withdraw his opposition against the new long-term funding for Ukraine.

Even though Brussels is to some extent ready to suggest some concessions to Orbán in order to reach the agreement, most national capitals rejected Hungary’s attempt to split the funding for Ukraine into annual tranches which would need unanimous approval every year.

The consensus is that any final compromise must include certain concessions to Hungary enough for Orbán to announce victory.

On 16 January Orbán once again confirmed his resistance against macro-financial support for Ukraine, claiming such aid "must not harm the EU budget".