The European Commission’s proposal to ban the import of Russian oil by the end of the year will not receive support from Slovakia and Hungary. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calls for EU values to be enforced.
6.5. 12:51 • Updated 6.5. 13:12
The EU commission has modified its proposal to ban the import of Russian oil, according to news agency sources.
According to sources, the Commission has given Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic extra time to buy Russian oil. For the other countries, the goal is to stop imports of Russian crude oil into the European Union within six months and imports of refined products by the end of the year.
Under the new proposal, Hungary and Slovakia could continue to buy oil until the end of 2024 and the Czech Republic until June of the same year. The condition for the Czech Republic is that it will not be able to obtain oil from southern Europe earlier.
The proposal also includes a three-month transition period before European entrepreneurs and individuals are banned from transporting Russian oil to third countries. In the original proposal, the transition period would have been one month.
The President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen appealed on Union values on Friday to enforce the import ban.
– Our place is next to Ukraine. We want them to win this war, von der Leyen said.
The Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban stated earlier on Friday that the realization of the Commission ‘s initial proposal would be an “atomic bomb” for the Hungarian economy.
Orban said the country needs five years to be able to finance the necessary investments in its refineries and pipeline network.
“A year or a half is not enough for anything yet,” Orban said.
– I do not want to oppose the EU but to cooperate. But this is only possible if they take our interests into account.
Orban also opposes action by EU sixth sanctions package on Patriarch of Orthodox Church To Cyrillic.