Hungary has made a demand on Ukraine and blocked EU aid

Hungary has blocked the European Union's allocation of €5 billion a year as part of a special fund for military assistance to Ukraine. This fund was supposed to change the approach to providing aid, but in the end, it proved impossible to approve its creation without Hungary's consent.

What Hungary wants

Viktor Orban's government is demanding that the National Agency for Combating Corruption exclude the Hungarian OTP Bank from the list of war sponsors. This list includes companies that continue to operate in Russia and help its economy.

Inclusion in the list does not imply any restrictions on the company's operations. It is rather a tool to influence their image. Hungary is blackmailing Ukraine to force it to change its position on the bank.

Until then, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that his country would not allocate any more money to the European Peace Fund. So far, the EU has allocated about 4 billion euros to the war fund since Russia invaded Ukraine. But officials want to create a more stable source of money to avoid having to constantly have difficult conversations about replenishing the coffers.

The push for a multi-year fund is part of a broader Western effort to provide Ukraine with permanent security guarantees, a discussion that dominated the recent NATO summit in Lithuania.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 27/07/2023