Hungary vetoed the European Union’s proposed nearly $19 billion 2023 aid package to Ukraine Tuesday, forcing the bloc to seek alternative solutions.

Hungarian Finance Minister Mihály Varga addressed his EU counterparts in a public session Tuesday in Brussels, where he announced “Hungary is not in favor of the amendment of the financial regulation,” referring to the support package proposed by the EU Commission in November.

"Unfortunately, we were not able to adopt the package as a whole; however, we will not be discouraged," Czech Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura responded in his capacity as president of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council.

“Our ambition remains that we will start disbursements of our aid to Ukraine in early January. I would like to task the economic and financial committee to examine alternative solutions” that would be supported by all 26 members states of the bloc.

It comes as Brussels continues to withhold around $7.9 billion of Covid-19 recovery funds from Hungary as punishment for Budapest’s rule-of-law reforms restricting democratic freedoms.