On May 15, Hungary “unexpectedly” blocked the payment of 500 million dollars under the eighth installment of the European Peace Fund (EPF) for the armament of Ukraine. On this subject informed Italian news agency ANSA, citing an informed source.
According to the agency’s interlocutor, the installment was to be paid next Monday, May 22. However, Budapest reportedly demanded “guarantees” that the EPF would henceforth maintain the “global” scope of its activities, and would not be used exclusively to arm Kyiv.
The EPF reimburses the funds to its member states who have donated their military equipment to Ukraine. Usually, the reimbursement share is 50% of the costs, but there is no fixed standard in this regard.
A month ago, on April 13, the Council of the EU approved a decision to allocate €1 billion under EPF to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell explain that this measure will allow EU countries to compensate for the costs of transferring military equipment to Ukraine – or losses incurred due to a change in priority of defense orders.
“With today’s decision, we are implementing the first part of the historic agreement reached by EU leaders to support the immediate delivery of €1 billion of artillery ammunition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “Borrell explained.
Thus, with the previous seven tranches, the total EU contribution to assist the Ukrainian military under EPF was to reach €4.6 billion. Previous EPF assistance measures to Ukraine were agreed on February 28, March 23, April 13 and May 23. , July 21 and October 17, 2022, and February 2, 2023.
The EPF extra-budgetary fund was created in 2021 to support EU partners around the world in the military and defense fields, with the ultimate aim of preventing conflict, maintaining peace and enhancing security and peace. international stability. It is funded by contributions, the amount of which is calculated in proportion to the gross national income of the participating countries.
Initially, the fund’s ceiling was set at €5.692 billion at the current exchange rate (€5 billion at 2018 prices) for the period 2021-2027, with an annual increase. At the end of 2022, the Council of the EU agreed to raise this ceiling by €2.287 billion (€2 billion at 2018 prices) and to increase it by a further €3.5 billion until 2027. if necessary. In March 2023, the Council concluded that such a need had arisen and the EPF ceiling reached €7.979 billion (€7 billion at 2018 prices) for the period up to 2027.
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