The EU provides new money for Ukraine

2024-06-25 08:17:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Source: Virginia Mayo/AP Photo/picture alliance

"€1.4 billion will be made available over the next month and another billion by the end of the year," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at a press conference after the ministers' meeting. of the EU in Luxembourg. This money is earmarked for air defense, ammunition and for supporting Ukrainian industry.

This money is the income from the interests of frozen Russian assets in Europe. For a long time there have been attempts to use this money for Ukraine. Now the Council of the EU - against the wish of Hungary, agreed, that the interests available up to 90 percent will be used within the framework of the so-called European Peace Facility (EFF). Even the countries of the G7 group recently decided to use the loan interest for Ukraine.

From the EFF portfolio, according to data from the EU, over eleven billion euros have been mobilized in the period from 2022 to 2024. According to the EU Commission, the value of Russian assets, which the EU has frozen due to sanctions, is around 210 billion euros. According to the Commission's assessment, interest income is around 2.5 to 3 billion euros. For 2023, the Euroclear Financial Institute based in Belgium declared 4.4 billion euros in income from interests in Russian assets.

The release of this money for use is achieved by a legal maneuver

Josep Borrell, source: FRANCOIS WALSCHAERTS/AFP/Getty Images

Borrel also stated that a "legal procedure has been found to prevent any blockage. By this he was referring to Hungary and its refusal to release this money for use. Against this background, that Hungary abdicated the decision in principle, while making the decision this country was left out of the procedure.

The Foreign Minister of Hungary, Peter Szijjártó, declared that his country will follow the legal steps against this procedure, informs the Reuters news agency. With this, the EU is crossing the "red line", platform X quotes the spokesperson of the Hungarian government. Szijjártó criticized this as an "unprecedented violation of all common European regulations".

Hungary will soon take the next EU presidency

Hungary's blocking stance against Ukraine is not new for the EU. For months, this country has been blocking other aid in the amount of billions as well as refusing to supply weapons to Ukraine. Budapest's argument is that with these aids the escalation of the war is encouraged even further. According to Borrell, the blocked aid for Ukraine includes an amount of about six billion euros.

Peter Szijjártó, source: Denes Erdos/AP/picture alliance

As a reaction to this, the EU has been blocking money for Hungary for six months due to reservations regarding the rule of law. On July 1, 2024, Hungary takes over the six-month presidency of the EU Council.

At the meeting of foreign ministers, it was decided on new sanctions against Russia. Other topics were the situation in the Middle East and the Western Balkans. The meeting continues on Tuesday (25.06) and the focus of discussions on the second day will be the topic of Ukraine. During a first government conference in the EU, membership talks will be opened with Ukraine attacked by Russia./ DW