EU reaches out to Hungary to break Russian oil sanctions delay

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is traveling to Hungary on Monday to discuss the EU’s planned sanctions on Russian oil with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Hungary is blocking the European Union proposal, which would ban Russian crude oil over the next six months and refined fuels by early January. This would be the bloc’s sixth sanctions package in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The EU had previously offered Hungary and Slovakia until the end of 2024 to comply with the sanctions and the Czech Republic until June of the same year since they are heavily reliant on Russian crude. 

Hungary rejected the offer, seeking a longer exemption as well as help funding the transition away from Russian energy.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a statement on Sunday that Hungary wouldn’t vote for the proposal until a new solution was offered. “We have voted for all the sanctions packages so far, but this latest one would destroy the security of the Hungarian energy supply,” he said.