Hungary Blocks €6.5B EU Military Aid for Ukraine
The allocation of approximately 6.5 billion euros for military aid to Ukraine is unacceptable for Hungary.
This statement by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó was made on Monday, May 27, during the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, where EU ministers discussed the assistance to Ukraine through the European Peace Facility (EPF). Szijjártó did not address the press but wrote on social media that he faced "enormous pressure" from his colleagues, according to DW.
The amount Budapest is blocking includes three tranches of 500 million euros, as well as 5 billion euros from the newly established aid fund for Ukraine. Additionally, the EU's use of excess profits from the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia to purchase weapons for Ukraine is being questioned.
According to the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, the EU Council approved on May 27 the legal documents regarding the use of extraordinary revenues from the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia, on which EU leaders had previously agreed politically.
Countries must now agree on how these funds will be allocated from the EPF. "Hence the growing frustration: everyone agreed with the ideas and principles, but now some are using their veto rights to prevent the release of the available funds," said the source. That is, the 5 billion euros were agreed upon in principle earlier, but some technical implementation tools are still being negotiated, and these are precisely what Hungary is blocking at the moment.
The Heated Debates within the EU Council
"We had an intense, even heated, discussion about military support for Kyiv, which faces some obstacles on the path to consensus," said Josep Borrell during the final press conference. According to him, the majority of EU countries have asked that all remaining decisions regarding the implementation of a new trust fund to help Ukraine under the European Peace Facility be approved as soon as possible, especially the decision regarding the use of super profits from frozen Russian assets.
"Our leaders gave their political consent for the creation of a military aid fund for Ukraine back in March, and it is still not operational. We cannot allow the EU's military support for Ukraine to be held hostage by other decisions," said Borrell. He expressed hope that these issues could be resolved at the next meeting of EU ambassadors and urged the ministers to do so.
"I have for approval seven legal texts regarding the mobilisation of resources for military support for Ukraine. Everyone says that we are not keeping our promises, we are not fulfilling our commitments on time. This delay is measured in human lives," emphasised Borrell. Approval of the legal acts he mentioned requires a unanimous decision from all 27 EU member states.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
