On Tuesday 24 September in Brussels, the Hungarian Minister for European Affairs, János Bóka, gave his assurance that the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union intended to continue the work aimed at ensuring that Member States continue to provide assistance to Ukraine – both in legislative and non-legislative areas – in line with the request of the European Council.
It was a response to a request that support for Ukraine remained at the top of the EU’s political agenda and it was made by several Member States, including the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, during the debate on the Hungarian Presidency’s priorities at the General Affairs Council.
On the agenda of the meeting of the ambassadors of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) on Wednesday 25 September is the recent legislative package designed to implement the decision of G7 countries to grant a loan of 50 billion dollars pledged against future profits generated by the assets of the Bank of Russia tied up in the EU (see EUROPE 13487/1). This issue will be discussed by the Council’s experts on Thursday.
View the proposal to set up the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism (ULCM), funded by the future profits generated by the Bank of Russia’s assets and designed to help Ukraine repay the bilateral loans it has taken out with the EU and G7 countries: https://aeur.eu/f/dk1
Energy. Mr Bóka also announced that the proposal to grant €160 million in aid to support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the run-up to winter would be included on Coreper’s agenda “next week” for discussion at the Energy Council on Tuesday 15 October.
Whether it be military and macro-financial aid to Kyiv or the opening of EU accession negotiations for Ukraine, Hungary has often slowed down discussions at European level and has been accused of using its right of veto in the EU Council to obtain something in return. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)