Hungary won't block creation of €5 billion EU military fund for Ukraine - media

Bloomberg reported this.

The article says that Budapest will not prevent a consensus from being reached at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday, January 31.

This decision means a change in the position of the country, which did not support the reform of the current EU mechanism. It reimburses member states for the weapons they send to Ukraine.

Bloomberg also emphasizes that this decision coincides with the growing pressure on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to approve Sweden's accession to NATO. Currently, Hungary is the only country preventing this, as Turkey has already supported the application on January 23.

The publication reminded that Budapest is also blocking EUR 50 billion in financial aid to Ukraine and the disbursement of the last tranche of EUR 500 million from the European Peace Fund (EPF). Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that his country might consider supporting the disbursement of funds after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, scheduled for Monday, January 29.

What is known about Hungary's blocking of EU aid to Ukraine

On December 15, 2023, Viktor Orban vetoed the EU's decision on the EUR 50 billion budget assistance program for Ukraine.

On December 15, it was reported that the EU had found a way to circumvent Orban's blocking of EUR 50 billion in aid to Ukraine and set a date for an extraordinary summit.

On December 21, Orban came up with a new explanation for why he opposes Ukraine's accession to the EU. On the same day, he said he was ready to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On December 18, it became known that a special summit of the European Commission to discuss the allocation of EUR 50 billion for Ukraine for 4 years would take place on February 1, 2024.

On January 9, it was reported that Hungary might lift its veto on the EUR 50 billion EU aid package to Ukraine, provided that the funding is reviewed annually.

On January 10, despite Hungary's opposition, Brussels voted to start negotiations with the European Parliament on providing Ukraine with EUR 50 billion in macro-financial assistance for the next four years.

For his part, Orban assured that he was not against helping Ukraine in principle, but insisted that any funding for Ukraine should be separated from the EU budget and proportional to the economies of the member states.

After meeting with Viktor Orban in Budapest, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he supports his "legitimate" fight against changes to the EU budget to allocate EUR 50 billion to Ukraine.