EU Member States had still not agreed on the sixth package of sanctions against Russia by the time of publication on Friday 6 May. The meeting of Member States’ ambassadors on Friday morning failed to reach an agreement, and discussions between the Member States and the European Commission continued on Friday. Discussions are expected to continue over the weekend.
There is still no unanimity on the oil embargo. On 4 May, the European Commission proposed an embargo on Russian oil by the end of the year, with a proposed derogation for Hungary and Slovakia until the end of 2023. Faced with the reluctance of several Member States, a new proposal was made to extend the derogation for Hungary and Slovakia, as well as the Czech Republic, until the end of 2024. But this is not enough for Budapest.
According to several European sources, the reluctance is not linked to a political problem, but to a material one, with supply and infrastructure issues for some Member States.
On Friday morning, in an interview with Kossuth Rádió, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expressed his opposition to the oil embargo. He said the European Commission had crossed “a red line” and “attacked European unity”. “I said ‘yes’ to the first five packages of sanctions, but we made it clear from the start that there was a red line: the energy embargo. They have crossed that line (...), there is a moment when you have to say ‘stop’”, explained the Prime Minister.
Mr Orbán said an embargo “would be like a nuclear bomb dropped on the Hungarian economy”, estimating that it would take 5 years to completely transform the Hungarian transport and energy supply model. He explained that his country would accept the European Commission’s proposal if crude oil delivered by pipelines was excluded from the package. “As long as the Hungarian question is not resolved, there will be no Hungarian ‘yes’”, Mr Orbán warned.
In addition, the proposal to sanction the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is dividing the Member States. “We will not allow church leaders to be put on a sanctions list”, Mr Orbán warned.
On the same day, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, sought to reassure. “The countries that are hesitating today are not yet ready”, she admitted in a video conference for a congress organised by the German daily FAZ, saying she was convinced that the package would be adopted. “If it takes one more day, it will take one more day”, said Mrs von der Leyen. The initial aim was for the package to enter into force ahead of 9 May, Europe Day in the EU and Victory over Nazi Germany Day in Russia.
For his part, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, announced during a debate in Florence that, if the ambassadors of the EU27 were unable to reach an agreement, he would convene an extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council in the week following the Europe Day celebrations to discuss the situation.
“We can argue about the number of years needed to adopt an oil embargo, but it is unacceptable to link an embargo to something that has nothing to do with it, such as funding through Next Generation EU, apart from any policy reason”, he warned. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with editorial staff)