EU Chief To Meet Orban Amid Russia Oil Ban Row

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen was headed to Hungary on Monday to meet Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is holding up Brussels' plans for an embargo on Russian oil.

Brussels, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th May, 2022 ) :EU chief Ursula von der Leyen was headed to Hungary on Monday to meet Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is holding up Brussels' plans for an embargo on Russian oil.

"They will discuss issues related to European security of energy supply," von der Leyen's spokesman Eric Mamer said.

Landlocked Hungary relies on Russian oil from a single pipeline and Orban has warned he cannot approve the European Commission's proposed sixth package of EU sanctions against Moscow.

Orban's office told national press agency MTI that von der Leyen would arrive in Budapest later Monday at his headquarters in the city's former Carmelite monastery.

As von der Leyen set off, Orban's international spokesman Zoltan Kovacs, citing foreign minister Peter Szijjarto, compared the sanctions package to an "atomic bomb" for Hungary's economy.

"Hungary will not vote for the EU Commission's initiative on sanctions against Russia because it poses a problem for Hungary and does not contain a proposal for a solution," he tweeted.

"The proposal is like an atomic bomb for the Hungary economy and would destroy our stable energy supply." European diplomats in Brussels are locked in negotiations on a sixth -- and major -- round of sanctions designed to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The draft was drawn up by experts in von der Leyen's commission, the EU executive, but several member states have reservations -- most vocally Hungary.

The package would have seen most EU members halting oil imports from Russia by the end of the year, with a one or two year exemption for Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

Technical talks continue, and negotiators insist there is united EU support behind the need for tougher sanctions, but Hungary and its neighbours need support to ensure alternative sources of fuel.