As the EU sanctions rollover approaches, Hungary wants Ukraine’s gas transit to restart

In a heated discussion as the EU looks to extend its sanctions against Russia over the next week, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary stated Friday that his country wants the EU to convince Ukraine to restore gas transit from Russia to Europe.

Hungary has not yet made a decision on whether to back the rollover of sanctions that is scheduled for the end of this month. The EU needs unanimous consent from all 27 of its member nations in order to extend sanctions every six months.

Orban, whose administration has had more political and economic ties with Moscow than other EU nations, reaffirmed his condemnation of the sanctions on Friday, claiming that they cost Hungary 19 billion euros ($19.9 billion). He did not explain the calculation of this figure.

“Now the issue of the rollover of the sanctions is on the agenda and I have pulled the brakes and asked EU leaders to understand this cannot continue,” Orban stated on national radio.

He remarked, “This is not good that we pay the price of helping Ukraine… and they cause us problems,” in reference to Ukraine’s recent decision to stop Russian gas supplies on the Druzhba pipeline from reaching Europe.

“We ask them to convince Ukraine to resume the gas transit,” Orban stated, adding that Budapest also sought assurances that Ukraine would not stop importing Russian petroleum.

The rollover of sanctions will be decided by EU foreign ministers on Monday, and Hungary’s foreign minister has hinted at a heated discussion, stating that Hungary will also confer with its U.S. colleagues in the days ahead.

Orban delayed EU funds to Ukraine for weeks in December 2023.

Landlocked Hungary receives almost 80% of its gas and the majority of its petroleum from Russia, despite the fact that western European nations have made strides toward weaning themselves off of Russian energy. Hungary did not import any gas through Ukraine last year, and Russian gas is delivered to the nation via the Turkstream pipeline via Serbia.

Because of worries that Orban has weakened democratic checks and balances, the EU has frozen billions of euros in funding for Budapest.