Hungarian PM insists on ‘brake’ on total embargo on Russian oil Victor Orban at the Summit, despite the Commission’s compromise proposals. According to Reuters, the draft conclusions of the European Council – which may be further revised – confirm an agreement on an embargo on Russian oil imports by sea, while the embargo on oil through pipelines supplied to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic will be discussed later.
Budapest introduces today more than 60% of its oiland 85% of its natural gas, from Russia and the Hungarian Prime Minister insists that there should be no question of an oil embargo on Summit meeting. The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria face a similar problem.
Speaking on Hungarian public radio on May 6, Victor Orb χαρακτηριστικάn said that the oil embargo would be like throwing a “atomic bomb” in the Hungarian economy. He added, however, that Budapest is open to other proposals if they do not harm Hungary’s interests.
Orban is demanding a longer transition period for the implementation of the embargo on his country and significantly more funds from the EU to make significant changes to Hungary’s infrastructure in the direction of energy independence from Russia.
“These are the leaders of the European Union to agree in principle to ban oil imports from Russia to Summit meeting “On Monday and Tuesday in Brussels, but after weeks of negotiations they will refer to later decisions on how it will work,” said diplomats quoted by Reuters.
According to a new draft of the summit conclusions, the leaders gathered in Brussels this afternoon will not finalize the conditions for this temporary exemption for oil transportation through pipelines.
Instead, they will ask diplomats and ministers to find “a solution” that will also ensure fair competition between those who continue to receive Russian oil and those who have been cut off.
Some EU leaders They ruled out any prospect of a comprehensive deal at the summit on Monday, with Estonian Prime Minister Kaya Callas saying it was more realistic to “expect an agreement next month”.
“I do not think we will reach an agreement today. “We will try to reach an agreement by the June summit, this is the realistic approach so far,” Kalas said. The next summit is scheduled for June 23-24.
The Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Cro, acknowledged that “these are not easy decisions”, adding: “I have no doubt that decisions will be made in the coming days, in the coming weeks.”
According to the draft conclusions of the summit, the leaders will also support the creation of an international fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, with details to be decided later, and will address the legally difficult issue of confiscation of frozen Russian assets for for this purpose.
Leaders will commit to speeding things up to help Ukraine to transport its grain from the country to world buyers via rail network and trucks as the Russian navy blocks the usual sea routes.
The draft also shows that leaders will explore ways to curb rising energy prices, including the need to introduce a temporary ceiling, reduce bureaucracy in developing renewable energy sources and invest in cross-border national energy grids.
However, the promoted ban on Russian property acquisition in the EU was left out of the draft conclusions after the objections of Cyprussaid a European diplomat quoted by Reuters.
The EU has already imposed five sanctions packages on Russia over the war in Ukraine. The sixth package of sanctions was announced on May 4, but disagreements over the Russian oil embargo have brought the Union in a difficult position.
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