Sanctions Policy "Primitive, Catastrophic" - "I Will Use My Veto" Says Orbán
- 12 Oct 2022 8:15 AM
- Hungary Matters
The European Union's sanctions policy against Russia is "primitive in execution and catastrophic in effect", Viktor Orbán said in Berlin during his recent visit.
At a podium discussion, the prime minister said an “appropriate sanctions policy” would have stopped energy prices from skyrocketing and European economies would not be facing ruin.
The EU’s sanctions policy “ignores European values” while ruining the German and Hungarian economies, he said.
It also “helps Moscow to as much gains in energy revenues in six months as it used to earn in a year”, he added.
Orbán stressed that he did not oppose sanctions per se but the way they were implemented. Sanctions should be imposed “intelligently”, Orbán said.
In the EU’s case, “a dwarf is imposing sanctions on a giant … and the dwarf will perish in the effort,” he said, calling for a review of EU sanctions and energy supply reform so the EU achieves independence rather than “merely switching masters” by pivoting from dependence on Russia to dependence on the US.
This may be “more convenient politically because Americans, unlike Russians, are democrats”, but “it would not be good” because Europe, as customer, “should have four or five offers on the table to choose from”.
‘I Will Use My Veto’
“Had sanctions been done right, energy prices would not be soaring,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Berlin, adding: “Sanctions could have been launched in such a way that we shan’t destroy ourselves energy-wise, but the commission has failed to do so”.
“So when it comes to sanctions I’m must say I have a problem and … unless you come and help I will use my veto … you cannot kick Hungarians aside and into a corner,” Orbán said.
Concerning energy imports from Russia, Orbán said it was uncertain whether Moscow would resume supplies, “especially when certain groups are launching terrorist attacks and blowing up pipelines” and “they could not deliver even if they wanted to”.
“We are very concerned that the same could happen to the last remaining high-volume pipeline, the South Stream,” he said.
“Russian gas or oil in themselves are not bad; the problem is that there is nothing else and we are vulnerable.”
“The question is not whether the Russians can supply us but how many potential suppliers we have and if there is competition between energy suppliers,” Orbán said.
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