ER Editor: The RT report below is from today, the Politico.eu report from last month. See —
Hungary doesn’t want €20B fund for Ukraine military — for now
Of note:
Hungary is emerging as the biggest hurdle in the EU’s attempt to set up a long-term fund of up to €20 billion to keep Ukraine’s military stocked.
The plan, first reported by POLITICO earlier this week, was on the agenda for the first time Thursday as foreign ministers met in Brussels. The proposal would set aside at least €5 billion a year for the next four years to help cover the costs of EU countries buying and donating weapons for Ukraine and training Ukraine’s forces.
But during the meeting, Hungary — which has argued Ukraine should stop fighting — said it would object to the fund until Ukraine removes a controversial Hungarian bank, OTP, from its “war sponsors” list.
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Hungary has been in the news over the last week or so because of Tucker Carlson’s visit there, his impressive public speech and his interview of Viktor Orban. See —
Tucker Carlson visits Hungary, plans to interview Putin, left implodes
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Member state blocks EU military aid to Ukraine – Borrell
Hungary is holding up “European Peace Facility” funds earmarked for Kiev
RT
The EU has been unable to release €500 million in ‘European Peace Facility’ funding for Ukraine, due to opposition from one of the members, the bloc’s foreign policy commissioner Josep Borrell told reporters on Thursday. The country was later identified as Hungary.
“I have to regret that the 8th tranche of the European Peace Facility (EPF) is still blocked,” Borrell said after an EU ministerial meeting in Toledo, Spain. “I hope we will be able to unblock [it] in the next [few] weeks. But this is a problem that is still pending to be solved.”
Budapest has been blocking the EPF funds for months, objecting that Kiev has designated a major Hungarian bank as a ‘war sponsor’. The bloc has used the EPF, established in March 2021, as a way to fund weapons and ammunition deliveries to Ukraine outside of normal budgetary procedures.
Following the meeting of EU defense ministers on Wednesday, Borrell spoke of the need to train more Ukrainian troops faster, noting that almost 40,000 conscripts will have undergone training at various EU sites this year, including at the Spanish military academy in Toledo itself. (ER: it is truly insane)
Thursday’s meeting involved foreign ministers, and included a briefing by Ukrainian FM Dmitry Kuleba. At the press conference, Borrell spoke of the need for the EU to support Ukraine “today, tomorrow and always” in a manner that is “predictable and sustainable,” but mainly financial.
The Spanish politician again mentioned that he had proposed to the European Commission to create a new Ukraine Assistance Fund, spanning the period from 2024 to 2027, and expressed hope the body would “reach an agreement by the end of the year.” Borrell envisioned the fund to amount to about €5 billion annually, for a total commitment of €20 billion over the next four years.
While Borrell spoke as if Brussels could afford to leverage its entire economic, political, and military might in the service of Ukraine, Hungary has been skeptical of the bloc’s policies.
Speaking at a forum in Slovenia earlier this week, Hungarian FM Peter Szijjarto described the EU as being in a “very bad shape” due to the Ukraine conflict, “worse than at any time in the past, in terms of security, economy and energy supply.” The bloc’s commitment to arming Ukraine has made it unable to broker a peace, while the EU’s energy, security, and economic prosperity have been dealt serious blows by the embargo against Russia, according to Szijjarto.
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Source
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