Media: EU responds to Ukraine's National Bank on Hungary's seizure of Oschadbank funds
The European External Action Service (EEAS) has replied to a letter from Andrii Pyshnyi, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), regarding Hungary's seizure of Oschadbank funds, stating that the EU will continue to assess the circumstances of the case.
Pyshnyi wrote to European institutions on 9 March to seek support after Hungary detained several Oschadbank cash-in-transit workers and confiscated the cash and gold they were transporting.
In its response to Pyshnyi, the EEAS noted in a letter posted on X that the incident "seemed" to be associated with anti-money-laundering concerns – the official explanation given by the Hungarian authorities to justify the confiscation of the Oschadbank funds.
While the EEAS acknowledged that the circumstances of the incident were "regrettable", it noted that EU legislation does not regulate the competences of national law enforcement agencies, including with regard to the possible seizure of assets.
The EEAS also stated that any measures restricting the movement of capital between EU member states and third countries must be justified by legitimate public interest and be proportionate to the objective pursued.
"The Commission's services and the EEAS are further assessing the case, also in the light of the additional information recently received from the Ukrainian authorities," it adds.
The incident in question took place on the night of 5-6 March, when the National Bank of Ukraine reported that the Hungarian authorities had detained the Ukrainian cash-in-transit workers and seized a large sum of foreign currency.
Hungary later released the cash-in-transit workers and passed legislation providing for the confiscation of the currency and valuables from the Oschadbank cash-in-transit vehicles.
A key minister in Orbán's government later effectively acknowledged that the cash-in-transit incident was a response to Ukraine's supposed "blocking" of repairs to the Druzhba oil pipeline.