Hungary is blocking around EUR 2 billion (8.5 billion zloty) of EU funds earmarked for Poland to compensate for military aid Warsaw has provided to Ukraine.
“The Polish government has been repeatedly communicating to Hungary at all possible levels that we are dissatisfied with the fact that Hungary has, for a year now, been blocking refunds for the military equipment we delivered to Ukraine,” said foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
While Sikorski mentioned a figure of 2 billion zloty, Onet, a leading Polish news website, reported that the amount being blocked by Budapest was actually the far higher figure of EUR 2 billion. It cited unnamed Polish officials expressing anger and frustration at Hungary’s actions.
The money is supposed to come from the EU’s European Peace Facility, a financing mechanism established in 2021 for the purchase of ammunition and military equipment and that has since 2022 been used to support Ukraine’s defence against Russian aggression.
The funds would compensate Poland for half of the roughly EUR 4 billion worth of military aid it had provided to Ukraine.
Hungary’s decision to block the disbursement of funds is hindering both further Polish aid to Ukraine and Poland’s plans to modernise its armed forces and fill gaps left by the equipment it has donated to Ukraine. (Notes from Poland)