The absence of an embargo on Russian oil in the next package of EU sanctions against Moscow would constitute a break in European unity in its support for kyiv, said Friday the head of Ukrainian diplomacy. “If this package is adopted without an oil embargo, I believe that President Putin will be able to celebrate because it will be the first time that the unity of the European Union will be broken because of the position of one country , Hungary“, judged Dmytro Kouleba, invited to a meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the G7 in Wangels, in the north of Germany.
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The proposal submitted last Wednesday by Brussels to the Twenty-Seven provides for a cessation of imports of Russian crude oil within six months and of refined products, in particular diesel, by the end of 2022. Landlocked country and dependent on its purchases of hydrocarbons to Russia, Hungary was granted a waiver but considered it insufficient. Believing that Brussels had crosseda red line“, the nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban thus rejects the current version of sanctions, which requires the unanimity of the 27 Member States of the EU.
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Dmytro Kouleba found the economic arguments put forward by Budapest unconvincing. “We see that there are more political than economic arguments in Hungary’s position“, he said. A veto from Hungary preventing the implementation of the embargowould cause great damage to the European Union“and its member countries”must do everything to avoid it“, he hammered.
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