Financial Times: E.U. could suspend Hungary’s voting rights to pass new Ukraine aid package

Some European officials are considering invoking Article 7 of the E.U. Treaty against Hungary, which could lead to the suspension of Budapest’s voting rights, to pass a new 50-billion-euro (about $55 billion) aid package for Ukraine, The Financial Times reported on Monday.

The process could be blocked by any single E.U. member state, according to the FT, but after Poland’s recent parliamentary elections, which brought the country’s liberal opposition to power, Hungary “no longer has a guaranteed protector” in the bloc.

The FT noted that some E.U. countries are apprehensive about using what it called “the EU’s biggest weapon against a member state” and would prefer to convince Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to approve the Ukraine aid voluntarily by making the “full costs” of Hungary’s isolation clear to him.

Another alternative could be for the rest of the E.U.’s member states to make a deal to provide aid to Ukraine without Hungary’s involvement, but this would “only offer a short-term fix,” according to the FT.