The foreign ministers of the European Union countries have not agreed on a tranche of military aid to Ukraine: Hungary demands guarantees that Ukraine will not return OTP Bank to the list of international sponsors of the war. About it reported Radio Liberty correspondent Rikard Juzwiak.
The eighth tranche of EU military assistance should amount to 500 million euros.
Agreements were not reached because Hungary requires legal guarantees that OTP Bank is permanently excluded from the list of international war sponsors, Juzwiak writes.
On September 29, the Ukrainian National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption suspended the status of OTP Bank on this list.
This happened as a result of negotiations between representatives of the department, the company and the Hungarian government to terminate cooperation with Russia.
At the same time, the department expressed hope that such a decision would lead to Hungary unblocking 500 million euros of “vital” EU military assistance for the Ukrainian people.
Instead, Hungarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mate Patzolai statedthat the country will not support the provision of military assistance to Ukraine from the EU while the bank is on this list.
Already October 3 NAPC excluded OTP Bank from the list of war sponsors.
Being listed as an international war sponsor is a reputational tool.
All listed companies are included in the World-Check database, which records high-risk individuals and organizations and is used around the world to identify and manage financial, regulatory and reputational risks.
- May 4, 2023 NAPC contributed Hungarian OTP Bank to the list of international war sponsors. The decision was made due to the position of the bank’s management to continue operating in Russia and the actual recognition of the terrorist organizations of the Donetsk and Lugansk “people’s republics”.
- Next day OTP Bank Ukraine published a statementin which he calls false information about the activities of OTP Group in the Russian market.
- On May 17, the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry said that the state intends to block the next tranches of EU military support for Ukraine and any new package of EU sanctions against Russia until OTP Bank is removed from the list of war sponsors.
Read also: The European Union is discussing with Hungary unblocking EU aid to Ukraine – Reuters
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Source: liga.net
