Hungary reiterated its request to invest in energy before the European Union (EU) begins to impose an embargo on Russian oil. This demand of Hungary stands in opposition to the EU, which is trying to quickly approve the sanctions it plans to impose on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
The EU Commission proposed a new package of sanctions against Russia at the beginning of this month. However, sanctions have not yet come into effect. Hungary is the country most opposed to the sanctions plan.
“First the solution, then the sanction,” Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga told reporters at the ministerial meeting in Brussels on Monday.
This statement by the Hungarian Minister of Justice contradicted the call of some EU governments to reach a sanctions agreement before the summit meeting of EU leaders on 30 May.
Hungary, which is dependent on Russian oil, says it needs $800.8 million in short-term investment to renovate refineries and expand pipelines transporting oil from Croatia.
Hungary also states that in the long run, the cost of diverting its economy from dependence on Russian oil could reach up to 18 billion euros.
Last week, the EU Commission offered to provide $2 billion in support to Central and Eastern European countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which are landlocked and have limited access to oil resources other than Russia.
These countries were also offered a longer-term transition period to free themselves from dependence on Russian oil.
To address long-term concerns, the European Commission has published a €210 billion plan to end Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027. However, the Commission did not elaborate on how the new investments will be shared among EU countries.
An official statement to the Reuters news agency on Monday confirms the reason for Hungary’s stalemate with the EU. He said one of the key hurdles to the agreement on the embargo on Russian oil relates to the amount of the EU payment to Hungary to align two refineries in Hungary, which can only process Russian crude oil at the moment, to other sources.
At last week’s meeting of EU diplomats, representatives of several countries, including France, Lithuania, Belgium and Ireland, called for a compromise with Hungary to avoid political confrontation before next week’s EU summit.