(Finance) – The 27 foreign ministers of the European Union meeting today in Brussels for the Foreign Affairs Council have given the political green light to a new tranche of military aid to Ukraine worth 500 million within the framework of the resources of the European Peace Facility. This was announced by the Swedish rotating presidency. The formal decision, diplomatic sources underline, will instead be taken by a forthcoming Coreper (the committee of permanent representatives to the EU).
“The issue of tanks is an important one but the amount of military aid that was decided at the Ramstein meeting must be taken into consideration,” he said.EU Foreign Policy High Representative Josep Borrell –. The main note that emerged from our discussion is that Germany will not block countries that decide to send tanks”.
Hungary, for its part, has announced its support for the new tranche of military aid to Kiev, after it had resisted the go-ahead in recent days. “Any decision that could lead to the prolongation of the war is against our interests, and therefore we do not consider it right or a good idea to increase arms supplies, but we do not block the implementation of the EU decision in this regard”, explained the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó. Szijjártó reiterated Budapest’s opposition to new restrictive measures against the Kremlin, lamenting the fact that at the meeting of EU foreign ministers “the same warlike climate reigns as last year”. “We are talking about arms shipments and sanctions, not peace” attacked the minister, branding the restrictive measures adopted so far as “a failed experiment”, since they have failed to stop the Russian war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Kiev continues to insist on the need to receive tanks, and above all the modern German Leopard 2s. The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, said that “we need several hundred tanks, not 10-20. Our goal is the 1991 borders and the punishment of the enemy who will pay for the crimes.” Poland – announced the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki – will ask Germany for permission to send Leopards to Ukraine. To send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine “we still want to establish a coalition of states, even if Germany may not be in it,” he said Morawiecki, adding that Germany currently has 350 “active” Leopard 2 units and over 200 of these would be in storage.
The foreign minister Antonio Tajani he explained that Italy “is not part of the debate on sending tanks to Ukraine”. Speaking on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council, Tajani underlined that “Italy has now committed itself together with the French for the delivery of anti-missile defense systems and the work continues in that direction”. “The Council has confirmed its attitude of support for Ukraine and the political unity of the EU and we will do everything to ensure that it can defend itself against Russian aggression and Italy will do its part, it being understood that the final objective is of peace while avoiding the surrender of Ukraine – he said Tajani –. The line is to give a cohesive line from Europe because the division plays into Russia’s hands but then there may be some details on which there are differences”.