Hungary has blocked the European Union from allocating an additional 10 million euros ($11 million) in “non-lethal” military aid to Armenia through its European Peace Facility (EPF), reports Azatutyun.
The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, proposed the allocation to the bloc’s decision-making Council earlier this year. Approval requires unanimous support from all 27 EU member states.
All member states except Hungary have backed Kallas’s proposal, a diplomatic source in Brussels said, adding that Budapest continued to veto the decision during a meeting of EU foreign ministers held in Luxembourg on Monday.
“No progress has been made yet after today’s negotiations,” said the diplomatic source in Brussels.
Armenia received its first-ever EU military aid, also worth 10 million euros, last July. The funding was intended to be spent over two and a half years on establishing a field hospital and auxiliary facilities for a battalion-sized Armenian army unit.
Hungary also blocked that allocation for months, demanding that similar aid be provided to Azerbaijan, a country with which Hungary maintains close ties. It reportedly lifted the veto in exchange for an EU pledge to fund de-mining activities in Azerbaijan through a separate mechanism.
Unlike other EU member states, Hungary has openly supported Azerbaijan in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict. The Hungarian Foreign Ministry reaffirmed that support three days after the outbreak of the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Artsakh.
