Orbán discuss the oil embargo with the President of the EC in Budapest
European Commission President Von der Leyen paid a surprise visit to Budapest on Monday evening.
Von der Leyen held talks with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the Castle District premises of the Prime Minister’s Office as part of a working dinner.
After the meeting, the European executive president Tweeted that the meeting with Orbán was “helpful” but “further work is needed”, promising to convene a videolink “with regional players to strengthen regional cooperation on oil infrastructure.”
Foreign minister Szijjártó: ‘We can’t allow Hungarians to be made to pay price of war’
Talks between Hungarian government officials and the president of the European Commission on the latest EU package of sanctions against Russia on Monday yielded some progress, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said, adding, however, that more discussions were needed in order for Hungary to change its stance.
- “We cannot allow the Hungarian people to be made to pay the price of this war,” Szijjártó told MTI after a meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Budapest
Monday’s meeting mainly focused on the EU’s latest package of sanctions against Russia and its effects on the Hungarian economy, the minister said.
Hungary’s energy supply “rests on stable foundations” at present,
Szijjártó said, adding, at the same time, that the implementation of the new sanctions package would destroy the country’s energy security, as it would make it “impossible” for Hungary to get the crude necessary for the economy to function.
Hungarian government officials briefed the EC president in detail on the impacts the country is experiencing as well as the problems the new sanctions package would cause Hungary, and asked for the package to be reconsidered, he said.
Until the EC offers a solution to these problems, Hungary cannot support the sanctions package because in its current form it is equivalent to “dropping a nuclear bomb on the Hungarian economy”, Szijjártó said.
Read alsoMajority of Hungarians against Russia sanctions? – survey
Source: MTI