After the unfriendly move, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto made it clear:
Until this changes, Hungary will not approve any further European Union financing of arms deliveries to Ukraine.
"I made it clear today that we will find it very difficult to even enter into negotiations on the eleventh package of sanctions, very difficult to negotiate further sacrifices involving restrictive economic measures, as long as OTP is on this particular Ukrainian list. It is unacceptable, I repeat, it is scandalous, and we demand that the Ukrainians remove the OTP from the list of international sponsors of the war," he said back in the summer.
In practice, the Hungarian veto meant blocking the payment of the so-called European Peace Facility (EPF). The program was set up in 2021 to back the EU's endeavors of "conflict prevention, peace-building and strengthening international security". The extra-budgetary funding mechanism (more than EUR5 billion) is now mainly being used to support Ukraine. The amount is pooled by the member states, so Hungary is also contributing, but with the proviso that it is not used for arms purchases for Ukraine, but for other stated objectives of the EPF, such as strengthening stability in the Western Balkans and easing migration pressure. We have not contributed to the payment of the next tranche of EUR 500 million for Ukraine under this framework.
Cover photo: Illustration. An OTP bank branch in Romania (Photo: LCV)
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