The Hungarian government continues to block European Peace Framework payments. Until now, the government justified the veto by saying that Ukraine included the OTP in the list of international sponsors of the war. Since then, the list itself has been discontinued, but the government won’t allow it, Szijjártó has now justified this by saying that Ukraine wants to withdraw its license for 14 medicines marketed by Richter – reports Hvg.hu.
The European Peace Framework is an instrument outside the EU budget, which operates from separate contributions from the member states. Governments that have handed over part of their own stocks to Ukraine can request a 60 percent repayment from this amount. The member states increased the payments by 500 million euros, which thus reached 6 billion euros. However, the approval of the payment requires the consent of the member states, and the payment of the eighth installment was blocked by the Hungarian government. This has been going on ever since, so the Hungarian government is blocking a total of two billion euros. Moreover, even if the member states call for more details, the Hungarian veto covers them as well.
Hungary initially justified the veto by saying that Ukraine included the OTP in the list of international sponsors of the war. The bank, which is also present in Russia and Ukraine, disputed the reasons and considered the measure unworthy. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó tied the passing of the unanimous decision to the removal of the OTP from the list. After this happened, he demanded a personal meeting in Budapest from the prosecutor’s office that compiled the list and a guarantee that the bank would not be mentioned again. In fact, this became obsolete after the list itself ceased to exist a few days ago.
Péter Szijjártó, however, continued to talk about witch hunts against Hungarian companies at the meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg. “As long as we do not receive guarantees from the Ukrainian side that they will end and not start again the witch hunt against Hungarian companies active in Ukraine. Until then, we cannot contribute to such decisions,” he said.
Therefore, Hungary is still waiting for a guarantee that Ukraine will never do this again. In fact, since then, Szijjártó has come up with another reason.
According to him, the Ukrainians want to revoke the license of 14 medicines distributed by Richter, and there is no reason for this.
Richter did not violate any rules in Ukraine and did not in any way violate any sanctions measures
– declared Szijjártó, adding that the activity in Russia is not contrary to any law.
