European Commission stands by its proposal of 50-bln-euro assistance to Ukraine, waiting for Council's decision - rep

BRUSSELS. Dec 5 (Interfax) - The European Commission is not reviewing the proposed macro-financial assistance of 50 billion euros for Ukraine as part of enlarging the EU budget for 2024-2027 and is waiting for the Council of the European Union to make a decision, European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta said.

"The proposal we have made on the Ukrainian facility of 50 billion [euros] it's clearly our proposal, we stand by it. Now it's for the Council to take this forward. And we, of course, urge them to make the decision as quickly as possible in order to ensure that support to Ukraine continues seamlessly on the coming months," Podesta said at a press briefing in Brussels on Tuesday.

She was asked whether the European Commission should think about a Plan B and work on it together with 26 EU members without Hungary in order to "at least reduce the potential of Orban to blackmail the EU."

Bloomberg said on Monday that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had written a letter to European Council President Charles Michel urging that the beginning of talks on Ukraine's EU membership be removed from the agenda of the EU summit on December 14-15.

In his letter, Orban also criticized the discussion of amendments to the budget for 2024-2027.