BUDAPEST, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Hungary protests against what it calls an “unlawful” step ‍planned by European Union governments to freeze Russian assets indefinitely using a qualified majority vote, Prime Minister ‌Viktor Orban said ‌in a Facebook post on Friday.

“Brussels will step over the Rubicon today, with a written voting starting which will cause irreparable damage ‍to the Union,” Orban said. “Hungary protests the decision and will ‍do its best to restore a lawful situation.”

An agreement to freeze the Russian assets indefinitely would ‍eliminate a risk to the plan of using them to finance ‍Ukraine ‍because Moscow-friendly Hungary and Slovakia would no ⁠longer have the ‌power to veto an extension of the freeze every six months as now.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by ⁠Tom H

See Full Page