Steven N.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unexpectedly arrived in the Hungarian capital on Monday to learn more about Hungary’s energy issues and attempt to persuade Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to approve the EU’s sixth round of sanctions on Russia.
Hungary, which is heavily dependent on Russian oil supplies, is the most determined opponent of phasing out its current energy sources. An embargo on Russia oil has been proposed by the EU as part of a new series of sanctions, but it must be approved by the 27 member states.
Previously-leaked news indicated that the Orbán government could be granted a reprieve of the embargo for a few years, but this has not yet been enough to lift Hungarian resistance to the plan.
In Parliament on Monday morning, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also repeated Viktor Orbán’s earlier statement that the Brussels proposal would amount to an atomic bomb dropped on the Hungarian economy.
On Twitter, the President of the European Commission did not announce a breakthrough with the Hungarian government, but said that they had “made progress”:
[Népszava]
