EU governments have agreed to use profits from frozen Russian funds amounting to 1.4 billion euros ($1.50 billion) to buy weapons and other aid for Ukraine.
Indeed, last May, the Union governments decided to use profits from frozen Russian assets in its countries to help Ukraine, with 90 percent of the funds allocated to military aid. But diplomats say Hungary is obstructing approval of the necessary legal procedures.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticized other EU and NATO members for sending weapons to Moscow, saying they were fueling the crisis.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday that the usual consensus for foreign policy decisions was not necessary given that Budapest chose to withdraw from previous decisions on the same plan.
“Since Hungary did not participate in the decision, it is not necessary for it to participate in implementation,” he told reporters upon his arrival to attend the meeting.
EU governments on the military aid committee supported the plan, as did ministers at the Luxembourg meeting, diplomats said, adding that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó did not contribute significantly to the discussion when Borrell presented the plan to him.
But Szijjarto expressed his position more openly on Facebook.
“This is a clear crossing of the red line,” he said. “There has never been a blatant violation of common European rules before.”
Szijjártó, whose country will assume the rotating presidency of the 27-member European Union within a week, continued, “Our colleagues in Brussels and our legal team in the European Union are studying the possibility of taking a legal path to address the unfair measures being taken against Hungary.”
The EU plan to immediately use profits from frozen Russian assets is separate from the decision made by G7 leaders this month to use future proceeds to finance loans worth US$50 billion to Ukraine.
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