Race against time to make Hungary renew EU sanctions before deadline
Sanctions need to be renewed every six months by unanimity.
The veto has played out throughout the week in meetings between ambassadors. After unsuccessful attempts on Monday and Wednesday, envoys gathered again on Thursday, hoping a breakthrough could be found. But this was not the case.
Hungary has demanded several names be removed from the blacklist, several diplomats told Euronews. The names have not been made public. Radio Free Europe previouslyreported the identity of seven oligarchs, including Mikhail Fridman and Dmitry Mazepin, and Russia's sports minister as part of Hungary's request.
The deadlock puts the bloc in a situation of extraordinary suspense: the sanctions are set to expire at 23:59 CET on Saturday and there is no immediate Plan B to replace them.
Ambassadors are scheduled to meet on Friday morning, although another attempt before then is not ruled out, given the pace at which the clock is ticking.
"We are working full steam on Plan A," said a diplomat with knowledge of the process. "There's still time for Plan A to materialise. I wouldn't like to engage in speculation."
"I keep my fingers crossed for a successful outcome," the diplomat added.
The saga marks the second time in three months that Viktor Orbán's government has put Brussels on edge by threatening to undo the sanctions regime that the bloc has painstakingly built since February 2022.
In January, it took exception to sectoral sections, which cover sweeping bans on oil, coal, technology, finance, luxury goods, transport and broadcasting, and the freezing of €210 billion in assets from Russia's Central Bank. Budapest eventually relented.
This time, it set its sights on the blacklist that includes hundreds of military commanders, government officials, oligarchs, propagandists and Wagner Group mercenaries, as well as President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, among others.
The blacklist also targets hundreds of Russian companies in the military, banking, transport, energy, diamond, aviation, IT, telecoms and media sectors.
Hungary argues that Donald Trump's inauguration as US president and his efforts to strike a peace deal merit a rethink of EU support for Ukraine and EU sanctions on Russia.
The position is not shared by other member states, who believe pressure on Moscow should continue for the duration of the war. They also want to pursue a "peace through strength" strategy to reinforce Ukraine's standing in the negotiations and establish the country's armed forces as an effective security guarantee.
Orbán disagrees with the "peace through strength" mantra and last week prevented the adoption of joint conclusions on Ukraine at the end of a special EU summit, forcing his fellow leaders to release an attached "extract" signed off by 26.
"Hungary has a different strategic approach on Ukraine," said António Costa, the president of the European Council. "That means that Hungary is isolated among the 27. We respect Hungary's position, but it's one out of 27. And 26 are more than one."
The stark political divergence played out during the talks among ambassadors, with Hungary managing to block the roll-over on at least three separate occasions this week.
The veto comes two days after US and Ukrainian officials announced significant progress in their negotiations, easing tensions between both sides.
Ukraine said it was ready to implement an interim 30-day ceasefire provided Russia reciprocated, while the US agreed to immediately lift the suspension on military assistance and intelligence-sharing with Kyiv, which caused consternation in Brussels.
"Ball is in Russia's court," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In response, Vladimir Putin asked for certain "nuances" to be clarified, such as how the ceasefire would be monitored on the ground, before committing to the proposal.
The European Commission confirmed on Thursday that it was already working on a 17th package of sanctions against Russia.
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