After failing to reduce their reliance on Moscow for energy, Hungary and Slovakia now want help from Brussels.

After failing to reduce their reliance on Moscow for energy, Hungary and Slovakia now want help from Brussels.

You reap what you sow.

Privately, that’s the exasperated sentiment among EU diplomats as Hungary joins with Slovakia to try and leverage EU rules to preserve access to a discounted product nearly everyone else has had to shun: Russian oil.

Their maneuvering comes in the wake of Ukrainian sanctions blocking the transit of pipeline crude sold by Russia’s largest private oil firm, Lukoil, which could strip the two countries of a third of their oil imports.

Hungary and Slovakia have gone to the rule book, arguing the penalties violate a 2014 trade deal between Kyiv and the EU and asking the European Commission, the EU’s executive, to intervene.

  • saltesc@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    1 month ago

    The scenario…

    But it exempted pipeline supplies — including those coming to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic via the Druzhba pipeline — to give those countries time to find alternative supplies, with the understanding they would do so rapidly.

    The situation so far…

    The Czech Republic aims to end its imports from Moscow by 2025,

    Good job, Czech.

    while Slovakia too has begun upgrading its primary refinery to process more non-Russian crude.

    Okay, could be doing much better, Slovakia. You’ll need more than that.

    But Hungary chose to go the other way, instead ramping up oil imports via the pipeline by 50 percent compared to 2021.

  • RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    103·
    1 month ago

    Hungary and Slovakia have gone to the rule book, arguing the penalties violate a 2014 trade deal between Kyiv and the EU and asking the European Commission, the EU’s executive, to intervene.

    How dare they trying to stay alive in a war against their existence. It’s inconvenient for others if they behave like that! 😭

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldBEnglish
    1414·
    1 month ago
    Politico Europe Media Bias Fact Check Credibility: [High] (Click to view Full Report)

    Politico Europe is rated with High Creditability by Media Bias Fact Check.

    Bias: Left-Center
    Factual Reporting: High
    Country: Germany
    Full Report: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/politico-europe-bias/

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