Hungary will veto Russian oil sanctions: “it would be a nuclear weapon”
Hungary, an EU country, wants to veto the planned EU embargo on Russian oil imports. " Hungary will not vote (in the Council of the EU) for this package because the Hungarian people do not have to pay the price of the war (in Ukraine) ," Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Parliament in Budapest on Monday. For the sanctions package to be implemented, all countries must agree.
In the negotiations underway since last week and which will continue this week, EU countries have not yet reached an agreement on an oil embargo against Russia. The European Commission had proposed to give Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic more time to fully implement the delivery block. However, the proposal was not enough for Hungary, but also for other countries.
The sanctions package means "only problems" for Hungary, Szijjarto said on Monday. He has no solution as to how the country, which is dependent on Russian oil, can replace missing imports. " This Brussels proposal is tantamount to a nuclear bomb dropped on the Hungarian economy ," he said. Prime Minister Viktor Orban had already made the same reservations in a radio interview last Friday.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen , went quickly to Hungary. According to her, there have been some steps forward, but it is not clear which ones, given the current Hungarian position. “ The conversation with Prime Minister Viktor Orban tonight was useful ,” the German politician wrote on Twitter on Monday evening. " We have made progress, but more work is needed ." It is also about regional cooperation for better infrastructure for oil deliveries.
This evening's discussion with PM Viktor Orban was helpful to clarify issues related to sanctions and energy security.
We made progress, but further work is needed. I will convene a VC with regional players to strengthen regional cooperation on oil infrastructure.
– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 9, 2022
Obviously Hungarians, Czechs and Slovaks want more money to accept the Von Der Leyen sanctions, but it is unclear what the usefulness of these measures would be, since oil would likely flow to India and China, while Europeans should. pay higher prices and the industry would be harmed. Instead, it would be more useful, for the medium term, to invest to develop hydrocarbon sources outside the OPEC + cartel, in order to reduce the global price and therefore also economic revenues for Moscow, as well as help EU citizens. But it is too subtle a policy to be understood by Brussels.
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The article Hungary will veto Russian oil sanctions: “it would be a nuclear weapon” comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/lungheria-mettera-il-veto-alle-sanzioni-al-petrolio-russo-sarebbe-unarma-nucleare/ on Tue, 10 May 2022 08:00:02 +0000.