On the evening of Friday 7 November, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjártó, announced that the Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, had obtained from Donald Trump, during their meeting in Washington, “a total and unlimited exemption from (American) sanctions on (Russian) oil and gas” (see EUROPE 13737/1, 13737/6).
However, a White House official told AFP that the waiver would be valid for one year. This is a time limit denied by Mr Szijjártó, who considered it to be false information. In exchange for the exemption, Budapest has undertaken to purchase around $600 million worth of American liquefied natural gas, according to the American official.
Asked about the agreement, European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said she had no specific comment to make. She pointed out that this summer the Commission had presented a proposal to “gradually and effectively” halt Russian oil and gas imports by the end of 2027. She added that since 2022, the EU had imposed an embargo on Russian oil imports, with exemptions for Hungary and Slovakia.
Anna-Kaisa Itkonen specified that the Commission had not received any information indicating problems with security of supply as a result of the US sanctions. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)