Viktor Orbán has called for the European Union to drop sanctions against Russia to avoid “destroying” the bloc’s economy.
The Hungarian prime minister told state radio on Friday that failing to do so risks precipitating an economic collapse across the continent.
Since Moscow escalated its war against Ukraine by launching a full-scale invasion in 2022, the EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia, taking particular aim at its energy sector, financial institutions, mining companies, and a host of other businesses connected to the Kremlin.
Orbán said: “Energy prices need to be lowered by all means. This means that sanctions need to be reconsidered because, under the current sanctions policy, energy prices will not come down.
“It will be painful for those who argued for sanctions. Not for us, because we will see this as a victory, but the other camp has to change because otherwise it will destroy the European economy.”
He said that U.S. companies’ energy costs are just 25 percent of what their European competitors spend on energy, a massive disadvantage affecting all areas of the economy that, he argued, can currently not be overcome.
The Hungarian leader said this move would be in keeping with the declaration on competitiveness that EU leaders signed at their informal summit last week.
On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution demanding that the EU step up against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of sanction-busting ships that are exporting Russian oil.
The parliament also called for the bloc to completely ban the importation of fossil fuels from Russia, a move to which Orbán is staunchly opposed.
Previously, the Hungarian leader, who currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, managed to negotiate exceptions from sanctions to ensure his landlocked nation continues to import oil and gas from Moscow, which he says is vital to the country’s economy.
Hungary currently gets 80–85 percent of its gas from Russia, as well as four-fifths of its crude oil.
Budapest is widely perceived to have closer relations with the Kremlin than the other 26 EU countries and has frequently been a lone voice against sanctions since the outbreak of war.
Orbán has also predicted that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will push for an end to the war in Ukraine, saying last week that “the pro-peace presidential candidate won, and now we are waiting for peace.”
