28 May, 2024 08:35
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EU members disagree on arming Ukraine using Russian funds – Borrell
Unanimity is required to convert the money into weapons, the bloc’s foreign policy chief has said
An EU plan to use profits from frozen Russian sovereign assets to buy weapons for Ukraine has so far stalled due to resistance from Hungary, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has acknowledged.
- On Monday, amid intense debate, according to a senior official, EU foreign ministers approved a legal framework to impose a windfall tax on income from Russia's immobilized funds, and to use 90% of the income to back Kiev’s war effort against Moscow.
Hungary, a vocal critic of Western support for Ukraine, has refused to provide any military aid to Kiev, either unilaterally or via the EU. Budapest’s approval of the arms purchase scheme is required to allow the EU “use revenues from frozen assets and to convert [them] into arms,” Borrell said.
”We have had an intense or even heated discussion on this military support for Ukraine, which is facing some obstacles in order to reach the necessary unanimity to make it effective,” he said.
Some members of the bloc said during the discussion that whatever legitimate concerns Hungary may have, its opposition should be “proportional” to the urgency of sending more weapons to Ukraine, the diplomat added.
Borrell declined to speculate on Hungary’s motives, when asked by a journalist whether Budapest may have a hidden agenda. Critics of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have accused him of being “pro-Russian” due to his stance on the Ukraine conflict.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday that his government remained committed to blocking a separate €6.5 billion ($7 billion) military aid package for Ukraine.
”We continue to insist on the need to make peace, to stop the senseless killing, and to prevent the escalation of this war,” the minister explained.
Last month, Orban called the EU’s support of Ukraine a strategic error, arguing that Brussels should promote peace between Kiev and Moscow instead.
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As long as Hungary continues to block the disbursement of funding for military weapons donated to Ukraine, the bloc can’t use the money to help Kyiv despite a political agreement among all 27 countries back in March to enlarge the fund with billions in additional financing.
Hungary is blocking three separate €500 million tranches of funding from the European Peace Facility destined to help Ukraine.
In addition, EU member states in March had agreed to add 5 billion euros for 2024 to a weapons fund for Ukraine in an effort to reform the vehicle and ensure a steadier supply of support to Kyiv. The newly dubbed Ukraine Assistance Fund aims to meet Kyiv’s most urgent needs for artillery, specialized munitions, drones and air defense, as well as in non-lethal areas such as demining.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Spain on Monday as continues to press his European allies to provide more military equipment. He’s scheduled to visit Portugal on Tuesday.
Budapest’s blocks are prompting even greater anxiety as the EU fund is due to receive as much as billion in euro cash in July from the profits of frozen Russian assets. That money, which would be used directly instead of reimbursing member states, is due to finance the purchase of weapons for Ukraine.. .
Budapest’s blocks are prompting even greater anxiety as the EU fund is due to receive as much as billion in euro cash in July from the profits of frozen Russian assets. That money, which would be used directly instead of reimbursing member states, is due to finance the purchase of weapons for Ukraine.
Discussions are underway to try to insulate that money from Hungary’s vetoes and get it to Ukraine more quickly, according to a senior EU diplomat involved in the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In a meeting of EU ambassadors last week, Hungary said it couldn’t back the fund’s disbursements due to concerns about negative discrimination toward Hungarian companies in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Greece and Cyprus also continue to press for limits to purchases abroad despite the March agreement specifying that non-EU weapons could be purchased through the fund, according to diplomats familiar with the discussions. Still, Hungary is alone in outright blocking the fund.
“We have to be transparent as to what Hungary’s position currently is and has been,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters ahead of Monday’s meeting, adding that by his count 41% of EU files on Ukraine have been blocked by Hungary.
Szijjarto said that Hungary is also opposed to a possible 14th sanctions package on Russia, as well as even opening a debate on a proposal to allow Western nationals to train Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine.
“They keep coming up with crazier and crazier ideas and a majority of countries can’t be convinced otherwise,” Szijjarto said.
A proposal to start accession talks with Ukraine is due to be discussed by EU ambassadors as soon as this week, with diplomats expecting further friction from Hungary.
“Almost all of our discussions and needed solutions and decisions by the EU are being blocked by just one country,” Landsbergis said. “It has gone very, very far.”
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