A disagreement flared up amongst EU foreign ministers and Hungary during an intense meeting held on Monday. The bone of contention was Hungary’s persistent obstruction of a substantial sum of EU funds allocated to bolster Ukraine’s military involvement in its conflict with Russia.
The administration of Viktor Orban is preventing a significant portion of EU financial aid from reaching Ukraine. This has brought about renewed disputes over Hungary’s exploitation of veto powers within the union’s headquarters in Brussels.
EU Foreign Affairs head, Josep Borrell, expressed his concern about the repercussions of these delays at a press briefing. According to Borrell, approximately €5 billion had been assigned as financial aid for Ukraine in its ongoing war, but this aid was being delayed by a single EU member country. To release these funds, all 27 EU member states must grant their approval.
There were intense exchanges regarding the obstructed aid during the meeting of the EU foreign ministers convened in Brussels, according to Borrell. While he understands that member states may have objections regarding certain policies, he affirmed that any obstruction of EU decisions must be reflective of the severity of the issue at hand. The Spanish politician reiterated that it had been previously resolved that Hungary’s contribution to the fund would not be earmarked for any military pursuits in Ukraine.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, in a Facebook post during the meeting, claimed that Hungary and Slovakia were the only “two sane voices” at the EU meeting table amidst a frenzy of wartime “psychosis”.
Diplomatic sources revealed a mounting irritation at yet another episode of Hungary obstructing EU aid to Ukraine. Orban had earlier postponed a €50 billion aid package in the past year, only to retract his resistance during a special EU leaders summit in February.
Prior to the meeting on Monday, Belgium’s Foreign Minister, Hadja Lahbib criticised Hungary’s application of its veto powers. She stated that they could not accept one country, which had earlier agreed to the set amount, obstructing this critical aid for Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the EU agreed to confiscate profits from Russia’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine’s war effort. The arrangement to channel an estimated €4.4 billion from immobilised profits to aid Kyiv was reached after several weeks of negotiations. Borrell expressed concern that this aid would likely face similar delay.
In a separate development, foreign secretaries have decided to progress with additional punitive measures against Russia. This is perceived as the EU’s reaction to the demise of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition protester, in an Arctic detention camp in February.