Foreign Minister reaffirms objections to EU sanctions on Russian oil
May 10th, 2022A pro-government pundit, as well as his alt-left counterpart, agree that the EU’s proposed embargo on Russian oil would harm the EU more than Russia, and is unlikely to stop the war.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó confirmed that Hungary would veto the 6th sanction package as the proposed ban on Russian oil imports would be a serious threat to Hungary’s economy (see BudaPost May 7).
Magyar Hírlap’s Mariann Őry finds counterproductive the idea of extending EU sanctions to Russian gas and oil. The pro-government analyst believes the ban on Russian energy would cause more harm to the EU than to Russia. Assuming that the war will be short in duration, Őry adds that those sanctions are unlikely to help stop it, as the EU only plans to phase out Russian gas and oil over several months.
On Mérce, Levente Szadai also thinks that the embargo would hit the EU harder than Russia. The alt-left commentator agrees with government commentators and the head of MOL, Zsolt Hernádi, that eastern European states including Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary would take years to redesign their energy systems to replace Russian oil. Szadai goes on to note that the ban would also boost energy prices. This is likely to trigger recession in Europe and increase the revenues of the Russian state and oligarchs as well as Western oil firms, Szadai thinks. He concludes by writing that sanctions are unlikely to stop the war.