Hungary has blocked disbursements from the European Peace Support Mechanism (MEAP) to supply ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces, saying it does not agree to this support and because of “Ukraine’s increasingly hostile attitude”.
In a video statement shared on his account on the social network Facebook this Wednesday, the head of Hungarian diplomacy, Péter Szijjártó, said that Budapest did not approve the disbursement of a new amount of €500 million because “it cannot the European Union agrees [UE]who has other instruments uses MEAP exclusively for Ukraine”.
According to the Hungarian foreign minister, such a disbursement would “leave insufficient resources to promote the EU’s interests in other regions”, such as the Western Balkans, the Sahel region and North Africa, and would furthermore “risk an escalation of the conflict increase” in Ukraine.
In addition, Péter Szijjártó criticized what he classified as “Ukraine’s increasingly hostile attitude towards Hungary”, after Hungarian bank OTP was included in the blacklist drawn up by Ukrainian authorities to impose sanctions on companies that support Russia in the invasion of Ukraine.
According to the head of Hungary’s diplomacy, the country will block disbursements under the MEAP as long as Kiev keeps OTP, the largest bank in the Central European country, on the list of international war sponsors.
Unanimity among EU member states in the Council is required to approve the use of these funds, whose initial allocation of €5.7 billion for the period 2021-27 has recently been increased by a further €2 billion.
At a time when Ukraine is preparing a counter-offensive against Russia, the interruption of these payments could deter some countries from continuing to supply the country with arms.
Until now, Hungary has never blocked the use of this mechanism, to which it also contributes financially, despite not supplying arms and ammunition to Ukraine.
In the EU, the Hungarian government of ultra-nationalist Viktor Orbán is considered an ally of Russia, as it has criticized European sanctions against Moscow despite approving the 10 existing packages.
In mid-April, the Council of the EU approved an allocation of more than one billion euros under the MEAP to supply ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces, and taking into account this amount then approved with the seven previous tranches, the total contribution up to EUR 4.6 billion.
MEAP was established in 2021 to support the EU’s military and defense partners, with the main objective of preventing conflicts, preserving peace and strengthening international security and stability.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
