Politico: Berbock and Szijjártó had an altercation in Brussels over blocking aid to Ukraine
A meeting between German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock and her Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó ended in an altercation over the OTP bank issue and blocking aid to Ukraine, Politico columnist Jacopo Barigazzi wrote.
“According to four diplomats, Germany and Hungary argued on Monday during a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels over the role of the Hungarian bank in the conflict in Ukraine,” the article said.
According to the journalist, Berbock rebuked Szijjártó for refusing to approve additional EU military aid to Kiev. She also cited some “unspecified reports” about the Hungarian OTP bank, accusing it of violating international law, the columnist said.
Budapest has denied the accusations and called the reports incorrect, Barigazzi said.
On Monday, Péter Szijjártó said Budapest intended to oppose the allocation of 500 million euros from the European Peace Fund to arm Ukraine as long as OTP was listed as a “war sponsor”.
Earlier, the Ukrainian National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) said that it had put the Hungarian banking group on the list because of allegedly preferential lending to the Russian military.
1,800 total views, 2 views today
