Politico: Hungary opposed the EUʼs plan to create a €20 billion military aid fund for Ukraine
- Author:
- Liza Brovko
- Date:
Hungary is opposed to the European Unionʼs plan to create a special fund to finance the Ukrainian army over the next four years in the amount of up to €20 billion.
Politico writes about it.
At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Hungary informed that it would block the creation of the fund until Ukraine removes the Hungarian bank OTP from the list of "war sponsors." The head of the Foreign Ministry of Hungary Peter Szijjártó added that his country will not allocate more money to the EUʼs European Peace Fund.
The proposal to create a special fund envisages the allocation of at least €5 billion per year over the next four years to cover the costs of EU countries for the purchase and supply of weapons to Ukraine and the training of Ukrainian forces.
- The European Peace Fund was created in March 2021 to finance all common foreign and security policy actions related to military and defense issues. In particular, this EU fund is designed to finance the strengthening of the capacity of non-EU countries.
- On May 17, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary already stated that his country will block the next tranches of EU aid for Ukraine for €500 million, as long as OTP Bank is on the list of war sponsors. It happened again at the end of June.
- On June 21, the Committee of Permanent Representatives of EU countries approved the increase of the European Peace Fund by €3.5 billion.
- Earlier, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) of Ukraine announced that it had included OTP Bank, the largest Hungarian bank, on the list of war sponsors due to the position of the bankʼs management to continue operating in the Russian Federation. NAPC maintains a list of war sponsors, but it does not have any status and does not lead to any legal consequences.
- After that, Hungary blocked the allocation of another €500 million tranche from the European Peace Fund. It finances to member states the cost of military equipment that they transfer to Ukraine.