Vitaly Saenko15:44, 01/25/24

At the meeting of EU ambassadors, the Hungarian side announced that it would not interfere with reaching consensus.

Hungary will abandon its objections to the creation of a special military support fund for Ukraine with an annual budget of 5 billion euros, which should pave the way to an agreement on modernizing the European Peace Fund mechanism, designed to steadily supply weapons to Kiev.

Bloomberg reports this , citing informed sources. At a meeting of European Union ambassadors on Wednesday, January 24, the Hungarian side said it would not interfere with reaching consensus when, at the same time, an agreement on a broader bailout package worth 50 billion euros remains unrealized.

The creation of a new fund has become urgent as the EU falls behind schedule on its promised delivery of 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine by March and US funding remains blocked in Congress. In addition, at the same time, Russia’s production exceeds Western countries and it has received about 1 million shells from North Korea.

Hungary’s decision will mark a change in its position, as it previously opposed updating the European Peace Fund, through which reimbursements are made to member countries after weapons were sent to Ukraine. It also coincides with increasing pressure on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to approve Sweden’s entry into NATO.

Hungary is also blocking the allocation of the eighth tranche worth 500 million euros from the European Peace Fund for weapons for Ukraine. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that his country may support the release of these funds after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba on January 29.

EU fund for the purchase of weapons to Ukraine: what is known

As UNIAN reported, the European Union proposes to create a special fund within the European Peace Fund to purchase weapons for Ukraine in the amount of up to 5 billion euros per year for the next four years (the total amount should be 20 billion euros).

In August 2023, the Vice-President of the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, expressed the hope that the approval of this fund for the period 2024-2027 with an annual allocation of 5 billion euros for armaments would take place before the end of the year.

At the same time, Hungary continues to block the approval of the eighth tranche of the European Fund in the amount of 500 million euros for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine. This decision has not been approved since the spring of this year.

In December 2023, Euractiv reported that the European Union could not yet agree on the creation of a “special fund” . According to journalists, the two countries are considering the possibility of potential reform of the European Peace Fund.

Bloomberg recently reported that EU countries, including Germany and France, are increasingly blaming each other for not providing enough weapons to Ukraine.

(C)UNIAN 2024