Hungarian Energy Move from the European Union (EU)

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union (EU) Commission, announced that they will meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who opposes the embargo on oil imports from Russia.

European Union (EU) Commission Chief Spokesperson Eric Mamer stated on his social media account that von der Leyen will go to Hungary to meet with Orban today. Eric Mamer announced that von der Leyen and Orban will discuss issues related to energy supply security in Europe. Representatives of EU member states, during their meetings in Brussels over the weekend, could not come to a common agreement on the ban on oil imports in the new package of sanctions against the Russian Government. The EU Commission sent the draft of the 6th sanctions package against Russia to the member states last week. In this draft, high-ranking officers and some people involved in the Russia-Ukraine war were added to the sanctions list, Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, and 2 other banks were removed from the international payment system SWIFT, a broadcast ban was imposed on 3 channels belonging to the Russian state, Russia 's access to consultancy services, the phasing out of crude oil supplies from Russia within 6 months, and the phasing out of refined product supplies by the end of the year. The European Union Commission made some changes in the content of the sanction package due to the opposition of some member states, and provided Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to be given additional time for oil imports from Russia. Hungary and Slovakia were allowed to receive Russian oil through pipelines until the end of 2024, and the Czech Republic until mid-2024. In the negotiations, Bulgaria is also requesting additional time to import Russian oil.