The European Peace Facility for supporting Ukraine looks set to break through €10 billion.
Josep Borrel, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, has approached EU governments with a view to adding another €3.5 billion to the current budget, anonymous sources have told Euroactiv.
The justification is the speed with which EU funds are being used up to support Ukraine against Russia.
Established at the start of 2021, the Peace Facility aims to “preserve peace, prevent conflicts and strengthen international security.” Existing outside the EU’s official budget—which isn’t allowed to finance military operations—the fund was originally conceived as a “mechanism for EU actions with military and defence implications”, a wide remit that encompassed potentially any country.
But the breakout of the war in Ukraine saw EU leaders decide to use the fund almost entirely to supply Ukraine with military aid, a first for the bloc.
The budget has already been raised once from an original ceiling of €5 billion for the period of 2021-2027.
The use of the fund has drawn criticism, especially from Hungary, with a government spokesperson saying its application risked “terrifying” consequences.
Hungary has blocked the latest round of military aid for Ukraine totalling €500 million, arguing that the Balkans and North Africa also need support. EU officials have countered that the real reason for Hungary’s intransigence is Ukraine’s blacklisting of the Hungarian bank OTP—the largest commercial bank of Hungary—as a war sponsor, according to Euroactiv.
