Von Der Leyen Says No Chance Of Striking Deal On Russian Oil Embargo At Next EU Summit

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of reaching an agreement on an embargo on Russian oil at the upcoming EU summit at the end of May

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2022) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of reaching an agreement on an embargo on Russian oil at the upcoming EU summit at the end of May.

"I think it is not an appropriate topic to be solved on the European Council because it's very technical what we're discussing. We're speaking about landlocked countries that need alternative supply via pipeline, so you have to speak about the investment in the pipelines, to increase the supply, and we're talking about refineries that have to be updated, and investment and renewable energy," von der Leyen told Politico news outlet, adding that she did not want to raise "false hopes" of reaching an agreement on the oil embargo at the summit.

Earlier in May, von der Leyen presented the sixth package of sanctions against Russia.

Among other points, it proposes banning Russian oil imports. The package needs to be unanimously approved by all member states to take effect, but the members have still not reached an agreement due to objections from Hungary and Slovakia. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban earlier described the potential embargo of Russian oil by the European Union as "tantamount to atomic bomb" for Budapest and that Hungary needs five years to diversify its energy supplies.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24 after the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics called for help in fending off Ukrainian attacks. The United States, the EU and other allies of Ukraine have since been imposing wide ranging sanctions against Russia.