“Hungary will not vote (in the EU Council) for this package because the Hungarian people must not pay the price for the war (in Ukraine),” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in the Budapest parliament on Monday. In order for the sanctions package to be implemented, all countries must agree.
Ursula von der Leyen must have perceived the conversation with Orban quite differently. “The conversation with Prime Minister Viktor Orban tonight was helpful,” the German politician wrote on Twitter on Monday evening. “We’ve made progress, but more work is needed.”
In negotiations that have been ongoing since last week and will continue this week, EU countries have not yet reached an agreement on an oil embargo against Russia. The EU Commission had proposed giving Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic more time to fully implement the delivery stop. However, the proposal did not go far enough for Hungary – but also for other countries.
But Orban seems tough as nails. He had previously said that an oil embargo would amount to an “economic nuclear bomb” (reported by eXXpress).
