5 July 2024
Armenia will receive €10 million ($11 million) in non-lethal military aid from the EU after Hungary withdrew its objections, reportedly in exchange for providing equal funds to Azerbaijan for demining.
On Thursday, RFE/RL reported that the EU was expected to approve the package on 22 July.
‘All the member states of the Union are now ready to give the green light’, they cited a diplomatic source in the EU as saying.
Hungary reportedly agreed to lift its veto after agreeing to a compromise that would see Azerbaijan receive funds to help with demining territories that came under their control following the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
RFE/RL reported that Hungary had been blocking the package for weeks by late April.
The EU announced it was increasing financial support for demining efforts in Azerbaijan in late June, pledging €10 million between 2024–2025.
Relations between Armenia and Hungary have been strained for the better part of the past decade; Armenia suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary in 2012 after they released an Azerbaijani soldier who murdered an Armenian soldier with an axe during a NATO training programme in Budapest in 2004.
The two countries restored their diplomatic relations in late 2022.
The EU’s Council of Foreign Ministers agreed to ‘explore’ providing Armenia with non-lethal military support through the European Peace Facility in November 2023. Armenia had previously applied for defensive assistance through the programme but was denied.
RFE/RL reported in April that the non-lethal support was designed to ‘help the Armed Forces of Armenia increase their resilience and stability-building capabilities, and thereby protect the civilian population during crises and emergencies’.
It also stipulated that the financial aid provided through the programme must be spent within 30 months to create a field camp for one battalion, which will also include a medical clinic.
