The European Union will continue to work on revising the European budget in order to reach final agreements by the end of 2023.

The corresponding instruction is spelled out in the conclusions adopted from Thursday to Friday in Brussels following the meeting of the European Council.

"Following its in-depth exchange of views on the proposed revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, the European Council invites the Council to take work forward, with a view to reaching an overall agreement by the end of the year," according to the document.

As is known, a revision of the multi-year EU budget is necessary to implement, among other things, the proposal of the European Commission to create a so-called Ukrainian fund for the period 2024-2027 in the amount of EUR 50 billion, which will allow for continued sustainable financing of Ukraine. However, there are no funds in the existing budget for this, and therefore this EU financial document must be revised.

This issue was considered before the Ukrainian one, which was expected to be the first to be discussed by the leaders. The European Council was informed that the Ukrainian issue will be discussed on Friday. At the same time, diplomatic sources report that the prime ministers of Hungary and Slovakia opposed the possible increase in the budget. Thus, according to the source, during the discussion of the issue, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban said EU support does not work, and Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico pointed to problems of corruption in Ukraine.