The European Union has so far not presented Hungary with firm guarantees of its energy security amid an effort to phase out Russian oil imports, the Hungarian government said on Wednesday. The comment came ahead of a meeting of EU envoys on the decision.
The Hungarian government’s press office told the news outlet AFP that it did not “see any plan or guarantee on how even a transition could be managed on the basis of the current proposals, and what would guarantee Hungary’s energy security.”
According to AFP, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested that Hungary and Slovakia, two nations heavily dependent on Russian oil, be given an additional transition period to ensure a less painful implementation of the ban.
The phase-out of Russian oil had been touted as one of the components of the EU’s sixth round of sanctions against Moscow, which representatives of all 27 EU member states discussed on Wednesday. For the new sanctions to come into effect, the package has to be backed unanimously.