Hungary and Slovakia announced they would block the EU's 18th sanctions package against Russia during the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday, adding that the move came in response to the European Commission's RePowerEU plan that aims to cease all energy imports from Russia, Euronews reports.
"They demanded today that we create a sanctions package that is as strong, as comprehensive, and as severely punishing the energy sector as possible. However, we, together with Slovakia, prevented the adoption of the sanctions package today. We did this because, in parallel with all this, the EU wants to prohibit the member states, Hungary and Slovakia, from buying cheap Russian natural gas and cheap Russian crude oil, as we have been doing so far," Szijjártó said.
The adoption of the sanctions package was not on the official agenda of EU foreign ministers at the meeting, though interventions and political statements were made on the issue. A substantive vote on the sanctions package will come in a meeting of ambassadors in Brussels. At the closing press conference of the meeting, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said they are aiming to adopt the new package of sanctions by the end of this week.
The Hungarian minister argued that Brussels' proposal to cut gas and oil imports from Russia would hit Hungary and Slovakia badly.
"This proposal would destroy Hungary's energy security, this proposal would put us in a position of severe dependence in terms of energy subsidies, and this proposal would double or triple the utility costs paid by Hungarian families," the minister added.
Szijjártó recalled that in 2022, when the EU sanctioned Russian oil imports, both Slovakia and Hungary negotiated an opt-out. By contrast, the procedure through which the Commission has implemented its REpowerEU plans leave no member states with the chance to wield a veto.
