Hungary's Orban ready to soften stance on EU aid for Ukraine - Le Point magazine

PARIS (Reuters) -Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban confirmed he was ready to soften his stance on a proposed European Union aid package for Ukraine to be financed from the bloc's budget ahead of an emergency summit this week.

Orban's remarks, published by French magazine Le Point on Tuesday, come a day after Orban's political director said Hungary was open to using the EU budget for a proposed 50 billion euro ($54 billion) aid package for Kyiv.

"Hungary is ready to participate in the solution of the 27 (EU member nations) if you guarantee that each year we will decide whether or not to send this money. And this annual decision must have the same legal basis as today: it must be unanimous", Orban was quoted as saying.

Orban has been a vocal critic of the European Union's financial and military support for Kyiv and has maintained close ties with the Kremlin since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Hungary was the only EU state not to back the aid package at a summit in December.

In the interview, Orban also said he was certain a report by the Financial Times saying the European Union would sabotage Hungary's economy if Budapest continued to block fresh aid to Ukraine at a summit this week, was credible.

"If the Financial Times publishes a document detailing the scenario of a financial blockade of Hungary and blackmail against us, we can be sure that it exists", he said.

The EU has denied the report.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Anita Komuves; Editing by GV De Clercq and Ros Russell)