On his arrival at the ‘Energy’ Council on Monday 16 March, the European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen, who held talks with the Ukrainian side, assured them that the country was “working flat out” on the Druzhba pipeline, which was damaged by a Russian attack.
Since the incident, the flow of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia – who benefit from a derogation from EU sanctions – has been hampered.
As Mr Jørgensen noted later in the day, during a ‘miscellaneous item’ at the sectoral Council, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also asked the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, to set a timetable for the repair of the pipeline. The institution has also offered financial support for this work, which could take up to six weeks, according to Ukraine.
In the meantime, “restricting such infrastructure increases our vulnerability in times of global oil shortages”, said Hungarian State Secretary Attila Steiner.
The stakes are high, since Hungary and Slovakia are making their support for the €90 billion loan to Ukraine conditional on the resumption of imports via this pipeline.
In comments relayed by AFP, Mr Zelensky regretfully noted on Sunday 15 March that this situation is tantamount to “blackmail”.
On Thursday 12 March, the European Commission announced that it had officially offered to send Ukraine a technical mission to inspect the damaged section of the Druzhba pipeline (see EUROPE 13827/3). On his arrival at the EU Council, Czech minister Karel Havlíček welcomed the initiative, explaining that his country was “ready to play a leading role in this initiative”.
However, the urgency of the repair is at odds with the overall REPowerEU strategy to phase out all imports of Russian fossil fuels by the end of 2027, including Russian oil. In addition to sanctions, the European Commission intends to present a regulation on 15 April, negotiated by qualified majority, for a definitive ban on Russian oil imports, after having done the same for gas (see EUROPE 13799/20).
In response to fears about security of supply, the Croatian minister, Ante Šušnjar, reiterated that his country was prepared to support Hungary and Slovakia “by making full use of capacities of the Adria pipeline, ensuring a stable and reliable flow of crude oil”.
Commissioner Jørgensen added that the two countries were not subject to any “immediate risk of supply shortages”. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)