EU summit – Orbán’s reaction to the latest EU sanctions package

“We have protected [the government’s cap on household utility bills] and successfully staved off a proposal by the Commission that would have prohibited the use of Russian oil in Hungary,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in the early hours of Tuesday, after the first day of a summit in Brussels.

6th Eu sanctions package

European Union leaders agreed late on Monday to ban two-thirds of Russian oil imports as part of a compromise deal that increases pressure on Russia while taking into account the economic impact on EU countries more dependent on Russian oil supplies.

The embargo restricts Russian oil shipments by sea, while oil imported by pipeline is exempted from the ban.

Tonight #EUCO agreed a sixth package of sanctions.

It will allow a ban on oil imports from #Russia.

The sanctions will immediately impact 75% of Russian oil imports. And by the end of the year, 90% of the Russian oil imported in Europe will be banned. pic.twitter.com/uVoVI519v8

— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) May 30, 2022

Landlocked Hungary has threatened to oppose restrictions on oil imports, which would have thwarted an effort requiring consensus among all EU members.

According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the agreement, together with promises by countries like Germany to phase out Russian oil imports, “will reduce oil imports from Russia to the EU by around 90% by the end of the year”.

Other parts of the sanctions package include a freeze on private assets and a travel ban, as well as the exclusion of Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT global financial transfer system.

The EU has also banned three Russian state-owned broadcasters from distributing content in EU countries.

Orbán’s reaction

o:  all of Europe is teetering on the edge of a global economic crisis because of the sanctions. Under these circumstances, it would have been unbearable for us if we had to run the Hungarian economy with dearer oil, it would have been like a nuclear bomb, but we successfully avoided this,” he said on Facebook.

“We brokered an agreement that states that those countries that get oil delivered via pipeline may continue managing it under the old conditions,” he said.

“Families can sleep well tonight, we have managed to avoid the most hair-raising idea,” he added.