The Hungarian head of government fears for his country’s economy.
(Photo: IMAGO/ANP)
Budapest Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vehemently rejects the EU Commission’s proposal for sanctions on oil imports from Russia. “It is tantamount to an atomic bomb being dropped on the Hungarian economy,” said the right-wing politician on state radio on Friday. Nor could his country replace Russian oil imports within the 20-month period that the proposal explicitly envisages for Hungary.
“According to our own calculations, we need five years for the conversion (to oil without Russian imports), a delay of one or a year and a half does not help,” Orban continued. The Commission’s proposal would not only mean that energy would become more expensive in Hungary, but that the country would no longer have any energy sources at all. “That’s why I say: Return it to the sender!”
However, the EU Commission is adjusting its proposal for an embargo on Russian oil to accommodate critics of the project among the 27 member states. An employee of the Commission told Reuters. This includes a three-month transition phase until the embargo is fully implemented and investment aid to improve the oil infrastructure.
Orban has governed Hungary since 2010. Last month, his Fidesz party won the general election, giving him his fourth consecutive prime minister. Under his rule, the country has closely approximated Russia. However, Budapest supported the EU’s previous sanctions packages, which it had issued in response to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
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>> Also read here: Why Hungary and other Central Europeans fear an oil boycott
“But even then we said that there is a red line that must not be crossed. That’s the energy sector,” Orban said earlier in the radio interview. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the EU Commission with its oil embargo plan “attacked the (in this situation) created unity of Europe”.
On Wednesday, the EU Commission presented a draft of a sanctions package that envisages the extensive suspension of Russian oil supplies to the EU by the beginning of next year. The proposal includes an exception for Hungary and Slovakia, but other member countries have now also registered reservations. The proposal can only be decided unanimously.
More: Does an oil embargo against Russia make sense?