EU sanctions against Russia: that’s why Hungary has withdrawn its veto

Hungary’s government decided against vetoing the renewal of European Union sanctions against Russia after receiving energy security guaranties, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Brussels on Monday.

A decision had to be made on Monday on extending the sanctions against Russia, which have cost Hungary 19 billion euros in losses over the last three years, Szijjártó told a press conference after a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council.

At the same time, he said, Ukraine had introduced several measures that had jeopardised the energy supplies of Hungary and other central European countries, adding that this was a matter of national security and sovereignty.

A ministry statement quoted Szijjártó as saying that Hungary therefore set clear conditions for the European Commission in recent days, calling on it to protect Hungary against measures that risked undermining its energy security, to protect the TurkStream gas pipeline, Ukrainian oil transit to Europe, and convince Ukraine to restart gas deliveries, the minister said.

“After lengthy negotiations … today the European Commission gave Hungary these guarantees that are essential for the future of our energy security,” Szijjártó said. “The European Commission conceded that the integrity of the energy infrastructure ensuring the supply of EU member states is a matter that concerns the security of the EU as a whole.”

The commission also “declared that it expects third countries such as Ukraine to respect this, and it has made it clear that it is prepared to introduce measures aimed at protecting oil and gas pipelines and power transmission lines connecting the EU and third countries,” Szijjártó said.

He welcomed the commission’s decision to enter into talks with Ukraine on gas deliveries and that it had asked Kyiv for guarantees on maintaining oil transit shipments.

“So we’ve achieved enormous success today in terms of Hungary’s energy supply,”

he said, adding that the commission “has been forced to take steps to guarantee the security of Hungary’s energy supply, and that’s why we ultimately decided not to veto.”

“The most important consideration was to ensure the security of the energy supply of Hungary, the Hungarian people, families and businesses,” Szijjártó said.

Meanwhile, the minister said Hungary had “done its homework” and linked its gas network with six of its seven neighbouring countries, but because of its geography, further energy diversification would require more infrastructure development in the region, but this had not yet happened in some key transit countries.

Because of this, he added, it was impossible for Hungary to meet its energy needs from resources other than Russia oil and gas.

Also, Szijjártó said, the government’s decision not to veto the extension of sanctions against Russia did not mean it would automatically approve the prolongation of sanctions against individuals when the EU votes on it in March.

Magyar: Instead of threatened veto, govt ‘bravely ran away’

Instead of vetoing the extension of EU sanctions against Russia, the government “bravely ran away”, Tisza Party leader Péter Magyar said on Monday.

Magyar said government “propaganda” explained away their about-turn as a move to protect Hungarian interests.

Referring to a statement on protecting Hungary’s energy interests, the opposition politician added that, having attended meetings in Brussels for seven years, “a council statement is worth as much as a … coffee in the Brussels cafeteria: nothing.”

As we wrote earlier, Polish PM Tusk said taht Orbán is in Putin’s team if blocks sanctions; FM Szijjártó: Tusk is a Soros-agent

Orbán cabinet recommends Russian-developed code generator for Hungarian citizens’ data protection, details HERE