European Ministers Push Hungary to Support Oil Embargo on Russia

MAY 16 2022·Updated JAN 2 2023

Story

Image credit: AFP/Getty Images [via The Guardian]

The Facts

EU leaders are struggling to convince Hungary to support an oil embargo on Russia, with Lithuania's Foreign Minister claiming Hungarian officials are holding the EU hostage with their refusal to support the sanction.
guardian
The ban on crude was proposed almost two weeks ago, but Hungary, which receives 65% of its oil from Russia, has said the embargo would cost the nation close to $19B.
wsj
Although landlocked countries heavily dependent on Russian crude were offered a delay in joining the EU ban when the measures were proposed, the sixth round of sanctions - which also includes asset freezes and travel bans on prominent supporters of Russian Pres. Putin - lack consensus.
guardian
Support for sanctions has been further complicated by Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's alleged close ties with Kremlin officials.
wsj
Commonly considered Putin's closest ally in Europe, Orban has only reluctantly backed previous EU sanctions, including an embargo on Russian coal.
Independent

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

Orban's Kremlin ties are straining the relationship between Hungary and the rest of the EU's western alliance. They're holding the bloc's ability to deliver effective punitive sanctions on the Russian economy hostage, even though the EU's foreign policy chief has questioned the inconsistencies in Hungary's claims about the cost of the embargo.

Reuters

Narrative B

Hungary has been clear from the start that energy sanctions are a red line, as they would decimate the economy. An embargo on Russian oil would demand the complete modernization of the nation's energy system and bring an era of economic recession that would only prompt migration and spiralling economic downturns for the rest of Europe. The Hungarian people must not be made to pay the price of the war.

Politico