Budapest agreed to allocate millions to Kyiv for weapons. What will Hungary get in return?

The European Union has ratified the allocation of additional military aid to Kyiv in the amount of 500 million euros from the so-called “European Peace Fund”. The corresponding decision was made at a meeting of the Council of the European Union at the level of foreign ministers of the EU member states.

Previously, the provision of the seventh such tranche for Ukraine was blocked by Hungary, but on January 23, Budapest withdrew its objections - most likely in exchange for unblocking Hungary’s funding from EU funds, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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The €500 million tranche was approved along with an additional €45 million for “non-lethal equipment” as an EU military training mission for Ukraine.

“Foreign ministers have reached a political agreement on additional military support for Ukraine within the framework of the European Peace Fund. We remain steadfast in our support for the armed forces of Ukraine,” said the authorities of Sweden, which has been presiding over the Council of the EU since January 1.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said at a press conference in Brussels after a meeting of the EU Council that the Hungarian government does not consider a further increase in arms supplies to Kyiv a good idea, but at the same time does not interfere with the implementation of this by the European Union.

“All decisions that could prolong the war or lead to potential escalation are contrary to our interests. It has been proven that sanctions are leading Europe into a blind corner,” Szijjártó said, noting that Hungary is against strengthening anti-Russian sanctions, especially if they are designed to limit cooperation between Budapest and Moscow in the field of nuclear energy.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister said that at the EU Council meeting he asked for help because, in his opinion, there have been concentrated and serious attacks on the Hungarian community in Western Ukraine in recent weeks.

“Every country that wants to become a member of the European Union must comply with the common European rules. Protecting and ensuring the rights of national minorities is an absolute value, as well as a European obligation,” Szijjártó said.

In his opinion, Kyiv’s anti-Hungarian actions make it difficult to make decisions “requiring sacrifices from Hungary with help from Ukraine.”

At the same time, Hungarian commentators note that the issue of linguistic and educational rights of the Hungarians of Transcarpathia was only a convenient excuse for Budapest to block military assistance to Kyiv. In their opinion, in fact, the bargaining is for more than 35 billion euros from the EU budget and funds, the allocation of which to Hungary is frozen under the pretext of “violation of the principles of the rule of law.”

_{Thus, in December last year, Budapest blocked the allocation of EU aid to Kyiv in the amount of 18 billion euros, and withdrew its objections after Brussels promised to unfreeze part of the funds for Hungary.}

At the same time, Hungary expects that the funds due to it from European funds amounting to several billion euros will be unblocked by the European Commission (EC) in April or May 2023.

Earlier, Hungarian Minister Tibor Navracic, who oversees the development of territories and the distribution of funds from EU funds in the country's government, said that the Hungarian Parliament plans to adopt the last package of laws necessary to implement the measures agreed with the European Commission at the end of March.

“The commission has stated that if this deadline is met, the funding freeze could be lifted in April or May,” Navracic said.

According to him, “the EC is also interested in bringing this procedure to completion.”

Как reported “PolitNavigator”, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry demanded that the Ukrainian authorities stop “atrocities” against ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, which are “unacceptable” for a country striving to join the EU.