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The EU is considering providing more time and money to Hungary to adapt to an embargo on Russian oil after talks on Brussels’ plans for sanctions have become “stuck”, the bloc’s foreign affairs chief said.
Josep Borrell, high representative for foreign policy, told the Financial Times that he understood why Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were resisting European Commission plans for the EU’s sixth sanctions package on Moscow. The three countries rely on the Druzhba pipeline bringing heavy crude from Russia.
“I understand their position. If I were in their shoes I would say, ‘Look I have a problem.’ It is not bad will,” Borrell said of Budapest’s objections. “It is a matter of time and it is a matter of money. We cannot put on the table proposals that do not fit with reality.”
Diplomats expect all three countries to be given more time to wean themselves off Russian oil in new proposals from the commission, the EU’s executive, on Friday. While most countries would have to ban Russian crude within six months, Hungary and Slovakia would have until the end of 2024. The Czech Republic would be offered until June 2024, which should satisfy Prague.
Borrell added that EU member state ambassadors in Brussels would be given the weekend to reach a deal, but that if the deadlock remained he would propose handing the matter over to European foreign ministers.
Borrell said they faced an “objective problem” and that Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán was not simply trying to make trouble.
“It’s not because Hungary is closer to Moscow,” he said. “We have to take into account the specific situation of each country. Hungary is a landlocked country. There is no other pipe bringing oil to Hungary but the one coming from Russia and going directly to their refinery, which is created for the physical characteristics of the Russian oil.”
The things that could be changed in the package were time and money, he said.
“How much does it cost to make this refinery ready to treat another kind of oil?” Money “is not on the table but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone says ‘to refine another kind of oil I need to make a lot of investment’”.
Borrell said it would be better to find a deal and move ahead quickly since the countries only accounted for a small part of EU oil demand from Russia. “It is not an important part of the cake in terms of volume.”
Borrell also said Greece was concerned about a proposed ban on ships carrying Russian oil as it had a large tanker fleet. Their argument, he said, was “‘If I don’t do it, someone else will do so I am going to lose business without hurting Russia.’ But If we let our boats transport Russian oil somewhere else it doesn’t look very nice. This is a pure political situation.”
An EU ban on Russian gas, which accounts for 40 per cent of EU demand, remained some way off, he said, because it was vital for many industrial sectors including petrochemicals.
Germany did not yet have facilities to import liquefied natural gas as an alternative.
“This problem can be solved and will be solved but it will not be solved overnight,” Borrell said.
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