
EU members wrangle with Hungary over Russian oil ban
European diplomats were embroiled in tense talks to agree on a fresh set of penalties against Russia, with Hungary opposing a ban on Russian oil imports, On Friday.
Negotiators expect the talks to last through Sunday, but they continue to hope about reaching an agreement.
Brussels wants to impose a sixth set of sanctions on Moscow in order to raise the cost of its invasion of Ukraine and wean Europe’s economy off its reliance on Russian energy.
But Hungary and Slovakia, landlocked and dependent on crude from a Russian pipeline, are resisting the oil embargo and holding up the approval of the package.
“It’s not easy to establish unity,” admitted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, addressing a policy conference organized by the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“The countries that are now hesitating are not yet ready. We are sitting together with these countries in Brussels to work out pragmatic things, such as getting alternative oil to these countries.
“I am confident we will get this package on its way, if it takes a day longer, then it will take a day longer.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that if there was no agreement over the weekend he would call a meeting of EU foreign ministers next week.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared the oil ban would cross a “red line” for Budapest.
“The European Commission president, intentionally or unintentionally, has attacked the European unity that had been worked out,” he told state radio.
Diplomats in Brussels thought that a compromise could be found, but warned that Orban was using the May 9 Europe Day, celebrating the genesis of the EU, as a lever.
“The approach by the Hungarians in the room is very different from what you are hearing from Orban in Budapest,” one said. “This will go into the weekend for technical work, not political.”
Monday will also be celebrated with great pomp in Russia when it holds its Victory Day commemorating its World War II triumph over the Nazis.
Brussels hopes to rain on President Vladimir Putin’s parade with the new sanctions package.
For the sanctions to go into effect, all 27 EU members must give their unanimous approval.
The plan, drawn up by the commission and submitted to member states on Wednesday as a document that could yet be modified, would halt Russian crude oil imports into the EU within six months and refined oil products by the end of the year.
Hungary and Slovakia, however, would be given an extension allowing them to keep importing until the end of 2023. But they say that is not enough, while the Czech Republic has asked to be given the same extension.
According to diplomats, on Friday the negotiators were discussing extending the transition for those three until the end of 2024.
One member state said the discussion was going from talking about delays for some “to a request for exemptions, which pushes the envelope a little too far”.
There is also a disagreement over whether to add the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a close Putin ally, to the EU’s targeted sanctions list. His name was in the commission’s draft.
The package also goes after Moscow’s banking industry, with plans to remove Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT messaging system, which allows inter-bank payments.
According to a document seen by AFP, three Russian television networks would be barred from airing in the EU.
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