Still no decision on the EU's oil imports sanction against Russia

HUNGARY - In Brief 06 May 2022 by Istvan Racz

The intra-EU debate on how much economic damage individual member states should take and over what period due to the intended ban on oil imports from Russia continues. At present, there are five members asking for exemptions, all on temporary basis: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia, all for good reasons. This is important to state, as there are a number of different sources who apparently would love to create the impression as if Hungary were the only member state causing a problem (the usual suspect).Hungary said that in its current form, it would vote against the proposal. Wording is important, as it suggests that from Hungary's perspective the issue is up for further negotiations. This morning, PM Orbán publicly said that in its current form, meaning Hungary should halt buying Russian oil completely by end-2023, the proposal is an economic 'nuclear bomb' for the country. He said Hungary would need a five-year period (starting from now, so actually a four-year exemption period in the language of the EU Commission's proposal) and lots of money to carry out the transition. Previously, he wrote a letter to Mrs. von der Leyen, saying the proposal would hurt the EU much more than it would hurt Russia.Essentially, Mr. Orbán is right in saying this, as regards Hungary. The EU Commission now expects Hungary to buy its oil at much higher cost (one-and-a-half times at least), in addition to building extensive oil pipelines and carrying out a technological conversion of two major refineries (or buying 20-30% more oil for the same volume of domestically refined products). At the same time, the country, as all other EU members, should go on implementing the EU's i...

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