Hungary to block EU ban on Russian energy, Orban says
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Viktor Orban warns the EU’s proposed energy sanctions could cost Hungary €2 billion annually and lead to soaring household utility prices, calling the plan politically motivated and legally questionable.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for the European Political Community summit in Tirana, Albania, Friday, May 16, 2025 (Leon Neal/Pool via AP)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared on Thursday that Hungary will veto a European Commission proposal to ban Russian oil and gas deliveries to EU countries starting in 2027. Speaking during an interview on Kossuth Radio, Orban warned that the plan would impose severe economic consequences on Hungarian households and businesses.
“We must be not only prudent, but also resolute in opposing the decision that would prohibit the use of Russian gas,” Orban said. He warned that the EU’s proposal could cost Hungary an additional €2 billion annually, primarily due to increased housing and utility costs.
The prime minister said the Hungarian government would use its veto power to block the plan, arguing it threatens national energy security and burdens citizens with unsustainable costs.
Legal grounds and policy criticism
Orban also announced that Budapest intends to challenge the proposal on legal grounds, asserting that such a sanctions policy must be approved unanimously by all EU member states.
“This is why it is tantamount to sanctions that may only be introduced on the basis of a consensus between all EU members,” he said. According to Orban, the European Commission’s plan is driven by political motivations rather than economic reasoning.
“We should not allow the imposition of sanctions against Russian energy and the application of sanctions to Hungary,” he added.
Orban criticized the EU’s current energy direction, accusing Brussels of advancing the interests of countries like Germany and the Czech Republic at the expense of others.
“They want to hurt Russia, which is why the ban on Russian goods and aid to Ukraine are more important to them than the prosperity of our own families and our business,” he argued.
Hungary, he emphasized, “takes an opposing view,” and will continue to defend its energy policy and economic interests in EU discussions.
Earlier today, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on the European Union’s internal disputes, particularly the upcoming hearing on whether to suspend Hungary’s voting rights over its political alignment with Moscow.
“There is a certain EU, European mainstream, which, let’s say, is absolutely not liked by a number of European countries that are supporters of a more independent policy,” Peskov observed.
Attempts to penalize Hungary, he added, were “evidence of growing contradictions within the bloc.”
Read next: Hungary diverges from EU by proposing Ukraine as a 'buffer zone': FT
