Merz: Orbán's veto on Ukraine loan 'blatant breach of loyalty'

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz voiced his frustration with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's change in course to block a new €90 billion ($104 billion) loan for Ukraine.

"It is an act of gross disloyalty," said Merz after an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. "There has never been anything like it."

Much to the anger of many fellow EU leaders, Orbán had approved the loan at a previous summit in December before his government changed course days ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion in Ukraine in February.

In Brussels, Orbán ruled out lifting his government's veto on the loan, as well as on a new sanctions package on Moscow, until Russian oil deliveries through Ukraine resume through the contested Druzhba pipeline.

Merz also warned of long-term consequences of Orbán's u-turn. "This will leave deep scars," he said.

Orbán's government is facing a tough parliamentary election in April, fuelling speculation that the veto of the new aid measures are part of his re-election bid.