lThe foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) agreed this Monday to grant Ukraine a first tranche of 1.4 billion euros from the extraordinary profits of Russian assets immobilized by sanctions, that will be used to purchase military material for defense against Russia, community sources confirmed to EFE.
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This will be legally possible thanks to the constructive abstention from Hungary, which until now has blocked this matter, diplomatic sources indicated.
Other diplomatic sources explained that the Council was based on an interpretation of Community legislation according to which Hungary could not rule on an instrument to which it is not contributing.
The EU had already reached an agreement to use the extraordinary returns generated by Russian assets immobilized by the sanctions imposed by the invasion of Ukraine to pay for military support to kyiv, so that These are not funds contributed by each Member State.
But now it was necessary to implement that decision, which Hungary, like others, vetoed to finance military aid to Ukraine through the European Peace Support Fund (EFAP).
Unanimity is necessary in EU decisions on Foreign Policy.
Hungary veto?
Upon arrival at the meeting that the ministers are holding this Monday in Luxembourg, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Josep Borrell, said that he would propose to the Council a legal method to circumvent Hungary’s veto and that Ukraine will benefit next week from extraordinary returns on frozen Russian assets.
“I hope that the ministers approve the proposal,” Borrell stated before the press.
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, during a European Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg.
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Borrell explained that community treaties provide “the legal avenues to move forward even if some Member States do not want to participate.”
“We consider that since Hungary was not involved in the decision, there is no need for it to participate in the implementation,” he said.
Specifically, he said that it is about mobilizing 2.5 billion euros of which the first tranche – the 1,400 million – “will arrive next week, in July”, while the second “will arrive a few months later.”
This money cannot stay stuck, it has to be used, and we have a legal procedure to avoid any blockage
“This money cannot stay stuck, it has to be used, and we have a legal procedure to avoid any blockage. We will discuss it,” he noted.
The head of community diplomacy thus hoped to prevent Hungary from blocking money for Ukraine from the returns on Russian assets, as it is doing with up to seven legal acts that would allow the disbursement of 6.6 billion euros to finance lethal and non-lethal equipment for the invaded country.
Of them, 4.5 billion come from the special section created for Ukraine in the FEAP, and another 1.5 billion refer to three tranches of that same fund that Hungary has repeatedly vetoed (one of 500 million and an additional 1 billion).
Finally, there are another 600 million euros retained that were not used from the 1,000 million that made up the so-called second channel of financing of military support for Ukraine, whose objective was to cover joint purchases, and which therefore went back to the FEAP.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine speaks during Ukraine’s closing press conference at the Ukraine Peace Summit in Stansstad.
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*With information from EFE
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