Hungarian government approves EU arms purchase for Ukraine – with constructive abstention

Hungary is under increasing "pro-war" pressure, but it will not relent, the country's Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó reiterated. The Foreign Minister spoke about the EU proposal that "if a member state supplies Ukraine with ammunition from its own stocks, the European Union and the member states will finance this from the common budget, the so-called European Peace Facility, to the tune of one billion – I stress: one billion – euros".

Military equipment exported outside the EU – most of it to Ukraine – has already been refinanced from the fund beyond the 'normal' budget, with a total of €3.6 billion reimbursed to Member States so far. This requires a unanimous decision, where abstention is "not an obstacle".

The limit for non-EU arms has recently been increased by €2 billion to a total of nearly €8 billion (also unanimously). "Hungary hasn't been supplying arms to this war, nor are we going to do so", so we will not be providing ammunition to Ukraine, "but at the same time we will not prevent others from doing what they want" with constructive abstention.

All member states, including Hungary, will contribute to the fund proportionately, but Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary's percentage would go to the Western Balkans, meaning that money would also be approved for equipment destined for there.

The contributions would go jointly, but could also be spent on equipment for other non-EU countries besides Ukraine. Péter Szijjártó said he wanted to spend on fighting illegal migration in the Western Balkans, among other places, when he approved a payment in December, although since then there has been another round of payments to Ukraine, also approved in January.

It seems that with the current solution (a small part of the Ukrainian payment is also earmarked for the Western Balkans), the government is trying to avoid criticism that Hungary would also spend on arms for Ukraine through the common fund (the budget has already been going to the countries of the regions listed in December, in addition to Ukraine.)

A novelty is that new ammunition would also be jointly purchased for one billion euros, or, as Péter Szijjártó tried to technically break it down, "of the ammunition that is purchased by member states together, as much as possible would be transferred to Ukraine", and "a financial package of one billion euros would also be created for this". Szijjártó acknowledged that the EU's Joint European Defence Agency could also play a role in this, but it doesn't matter, because Hungary is staying out of the program.