Hungarian veto: EU fails to agree on €500 million from fund helping Ukraine with weapons
EU foreign ministers failed to reach an agreement on the allocation of the eighth tranche of €500 million from the European Peace Fund to finance Ukraine's military needs during an informal meeting in Toledo.
Source: European Pravda, citing Josep Borrell, head of EU diplomacy, at a press conference following the meeting
Details: Borrell noted that at the meeting on 31 August, they discussed his proposal to allocate €20 billion to finance military assistance to Ukraine under the European Peace Fund for the next four years.
He said that the EU foreign ministers have demonstrated their determination to continue supporting Ukraine with military assistance for as long as necessary.
Borrell expressed hope that the EU Council will agree to his proposal before the end of the year.
At the same time, he expressed regret that the eighth tranche of €500 million from the European Peace Fund is still blocked. As it is known, Hungary opposes the allocation of these funds.
Quote: "I hope we will be able to unblock [it] in the coming weeks. But this is a problem that is still pending to be solved."
Background:
- Hungary opposes the allocation of the next tranche of €500 million from the European Peace Fund to EU member states due to Ukraine's inclusion of the Hungarian OTP Bank in the list of "war sponsors".
- Hungary has already blocked the allocation of this tranche by EU member states several times, referring to the same problem.
- The European Peace Fund, established in 2021, is an extra-budgetary instrument of the EU aimed at improving the EU's ability to prevent conflicts and build peace. EU countries receive compensation for military assistance delivered to Ukraine from this fund.
- In July, Hungary opposed the EU's attempt to create a long-term fund of up to €20 billion to support the Ukrainian army.
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