Orbán refuses to discuss Russia oil embargo at EU summit

Orbán refuses to discuss Russia oil embargo at EU summit

Viktor Orbán has ruled out discussing the EU’s proposed oil embargo of Russia at next week’s summit of leaders, in a fresh blow to the union’s efforts to win backing for its landmark sanctions package.

Hungary’s prime minister has written to the European Council’s president, Charles Michel, saying his country could not support the sanctions without more detail on the EU financing available to help Budapest wean itself off Russian oil.

Orbán’s refusal to discuss the package leaves Brussels’ plans to end the bloc’s dependence on Russian oil hanging by a thread.

“Discussing the sanctions package at the level of leaders in the absence of a consensus would be counterproductive,” Orbán wrote in the letter, seen by the Financial Times. “It would only highlight our internal divisions without offering a realistic chance to resolve differences. Therefore, I propose not to address this issue at the next European Council.”

The European Commission has spent most of May seeking to win member states over to its sixth package of sanctions, which would include a phased-in embargo on Russian oil. But it has struggledto convince Hungary to support the package, as well as other landlocked states that are heavily dependent on Russian oil such as Slovakia and