Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks as he and Hungarian President Janos Ader make a statement to the media after their talks at the Presidential Palace in Budapest, Hungary April 29, 2022. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
BUDAPEST, May 5 – The European Union’s new package of sanctions against Russia, including an embargo on crude oil imports, would harm Hungary more than Russia, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, news website index.hu reported on Thursday.
In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Orban said the EU’s latest sanctions package risked undermining the bloc’s unity and that his approval was a historic failure.
Orban’s press chief did not immediately respond to emailed questions for comment.
The European Union executive on Wednesday proposed the toughest package of sanctions yet against Moscow over its war in Ukraine, but several countries worried about the impact of cutting off Russian oil imports stood in the way of an agreement. Continue reading
A handful of eastern EU countries fear the halt would not give them enough time to adjust, although diplomats said Hungary and Slovakia would have until the end of 2023.
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that despite the delay, Hungary could only agree to the measures if crude oil imports from Russia via pipelines were exempted from sanctions.
Index.hu quoted Orban’s letter as saying that approval of the proposed sanctions would require major investments in alternative supply infrastructure and an overhaul of Hungary’s oil refining capacity.
Orban also said that the measures would lead to a further rise in energy prices without the EU taking sufficient remedial action to mitigate the consequences.
The landlocked country — whose prime minister has closer ties to the Kremlin than others in the bloc — got more than half of its crude oil and oil products imports from Russia last year, according to the International Energy Agency.
Reporting by Gergely Szakacs Editing by Alexandra Hudson