How Hungary torpedoed the EU’s sanctions crackdown on Russia

‘Hungary’s stance on oil and gas sanctions on Russia remains unchanged,’ Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltán Kovacs said on Monday. ‘We do not support them.’ Cue panic in Brussels as European Union ministers discussed a potential embargo on Russian oil imports, plans for which were presented to the European Parliament on Wednesday morning.

Claims swirled that Hungary might be allowed to continue buying Russian oil for a year longer than other member states to stop it from vetoing the bloc’s new sanctions package, but Kovacs quickly torpedoed this idea too. Hungary does not ‘see any plans or guarantees on how a transition could be managed based on the current proposals, and how Hungary’s energy security would be guaranteed,’ he said, adding that the EU’s proposal is ‘against Hungarian interests.’

No one should be surprised by Hungary’s difficult stance on cutting out Russian energy. While Hungary isn’t the only country causing problems — Slovakia is also being offered a partial exemption from the oil ban and Germany was long sceptical of the proposal — Budapest’s opposition to banning Russian energy is vociferous.