Latest news with #RePowerEU
Novaya Gazeta Europe
10 hours ago
- Business
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
EU renews sanctions against Russia but fails to pass new package after Slovakia veto — Novaya Gazeta Europe
Flags of the European Union in front of a building at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 2 April 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/RONALD WITTEK EU leaders gathered in Brussels have agreed to renew existing sanctions against Russia for another six months, Reuters reported on Thursday, though they failed to pass a new raft of sanctions after Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico made clear he would veto such a proposal. The decision means that the proposed 18th package of sanctions, which would further target Russia's energy and finance sector and the so-called 'shadow fleet' of tankers used to bypass the G7 price cap on Russian oil exports, will have to be agreed upon at a later date. On Thursday, Fico said he would not agree to a new sanctions package until Slovak concerns over gas supplies are resolved. According to Reuters, Fico believes that further sanctions against Russia will lead to supply issues and legal issues for Slovakia concerning its existing long-term contract with Russian gas company Gazprom. In mid-June, the European Commission unveiled a legislative proposal, according to which EU countries would be required to phase out the import of Russian energy by 2027, part of Brussels' RePowerEU plan aimed at ending the EU's dependency on Russian fossil fuels. 'Russia has repeatedly attempted to blackmail us by weaponising its energy supplies. We have taken clear steps to turn off the tap and end the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe for good,' Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said when introducing the initiative on 17 June. Commenting on Slovakia's opposition, Polish Minister for European Affairs Adam Szłapka said at the summit that he hoped Bratislava's support could be secured: 'As with the previous sanction packages, I am optimistic here; we are working on it,' he said. 'I hope that it will be possible to close it by the end of Poland's [EU] presidency, and as we know, there are four days left.' Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU has imposed punitive sanctions against over 2,400 Russian companies, politicians, military figures, and business people. The EU's sanctions must be renewed every six months and require unanimous agreement from all 27 member states. The EU's existing sanctions were set to expire on 31 July. With the latest deal, they will now remain in effect until 31 December. Also on Thursday, the European Council, which is holding a special summit in Brussels this week, failed to adopt a unanimous statement of support for Ukraine's accession to the EU after Hungary refused to endorse the measure. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who organised a widely criticised opinion poll in his country in which 95% of respondents rejected the prospect of Ukraine's EU accession, says he will continue to oppose the process.
Saudi Gazette
4 days ago
- Business
- Saudi Gazette
Hungary and Slovakia block EU's fresh Russia sanction package
BRUSSELS — Hungary and Slovakia announced they would block the EU's 18th sanctions package against Russia during the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday, adding that the move came in response to the European Commission's RePowerEU plan that aims to cease all energy imports from Russia. "They demanded today that we create a sanctions package that is as strong, as comprehensive, and as severely punishing the energy sector as possible. However, we, together with Slovakia, prevented the adoption of the sanctions package today. We did this because, in parallel with all this, the EU wants to prohibit the member states, Hungary and Slovakia, from buying cheap Russian natural gas and cheap Russian crude oil, as we have been doing so far," Szijjártó said. The adoption of the sanctions package was not on the official agenda of EU foreign ministers at the meeting, though interventions and political statements were made on the issue. A substantive vote on the sanctions package will come in a meeting of ambassadors in Brussels. At the closing press conference of the meeting, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said they are aiming to adopt the new package of sanctions by the end of this week. The Hungarian minister argued that Brussels' proposal to cut gas and oil imports from Russia would hit Hungary and Slovakia badly. "This proposal would destroy Hungary's energy security, this proposal would put us in a position of severe dependence in terms of energy subsidies, and this proposal would double or triple the utility costs paid by Hungarian families," the minister added. Szijjártó recalled that in 2022, when the EU sanctioned Russian oil imports, both Slovakia and Hungary negotiated an opt-out. By contrast, the procedure through which the Commission has implemented its REpowerEU plans leave no member states with the chance to wield a European Commission's plans would gradually phase out energy imports from Russia by 2027. According to the Commission, this would end the EU's dependency on Russian fossil fuels and ultimately boost competitiveness."Russia has repeatedly attempted to blackmail us by weaponising its energy supplies. We have taken clear steps to turn off the tap and end the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe for good,' Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said when introducing the EU's fresh proposal for sanctions proposals was released at the beginning of June, would blacklist an additional 22 Russian banks and extend the ban on transactions to entities based outside the country that contribute to the circumvention of sanctions. They would ban financial transactions with the North Stream pipeline.Péter Szijjártó also made clear during a press conference in Brussels that Hungary isn't willing to support any statement in support of Ukraine's EU accession at the European Council later this week."The Ukrainians cannot make a single step towards accession until the Hungarian cultural community's rights are returned. No pressure from Brussels would force us to give up [this condition]," the minister Hungarian government has been critical of Ukraine because it sees Kyiv as limiting the language and educational rights of the Hungarian minorities in Ukraine's Transcarpathia region. The government of Viktor Orbán also launched a campaign against Ukraine's EU accession, portraying this as an imminent threat to the EU's economy. At earlier EU summits 26 member states issued statements in support of Ukraine's accession without Hungary. — Euronews
Euronews
5 days ago
- Business
- Euronews
Hungary and Slovakia block the EU's fresh Russia sanction plans
Hungary and Slovakia announced they would block the EU's 18th sanctions package against Russia during the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday, adding that the move came in response to the European Commission's RePowerEU plan that aims to cease all energy imports from Russia. "They demanded today that we create a sanctions package that is as strong, as comprehensive, and as severely punishing the energy sector as possible. However, we, together with Slovakia, prevented the adoption of the sanctions package today. We did this because, in parallel with all this, the EU wants to prohibit the member states, Hungary and Slovakia, from buying cheap Russian natural gas and cheap Russian crude oil, as we have been doing so far," Szijjártó said. The adoption of the sanctions package was not on the official agenda of EU foreign ministers at the meeting, though interventions and political statements were made on the issue. A substantive vote on the sanctions package will come in a meeting of ambassadors in Brussels. Hungary and Slovakia are frustrated with the Commission's phase-out plans The Hungarian minister argued that Brussels' proposal to cut gas and oil imports from Russia would hit Hungary and Slovakia badly. "This proposal would destroy Hungary's energy security, this proposal would put us in a position of severe dependence in terms of energy subsidies, and this proposal would double or triple the utility costs paid by Hungarian families," the minister added. Szijjártó recalled that in 2022, when the EU sanctioned Russian oil imports, both Slovakia and Hungary negotiated an opt-out. By contrast, the procedure through which the Commission has implemented its REpowerEU plans leave no member states with the chance to wield a veto. The European Commission's plans would gradually phase out energy imports from Russia by 2027. According to the Commission, this would end the EU's dependency on Russian fossil fuels and ultimately boost competitiveness. "Russia has repeatedly attempted to blackmail us by weaponising its energy supplies. We have taken clear steps to turn off the tap and end the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe for good,' Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said when introducing the proposal. The EU's fresh proposal for sanctions proposals was released at the beginning of June, would blacklist an additional 22 Russian banks and extend the ban on transactions to entities based outside the country that contribute to the circumvention of sanctions. They would ban financial transactions with the North Stream pipeline. Hungary is also opposed to Ukraine's EU accession Péter Szijjártó also made clear during a press conference in Brussels that Hungary isn't willing to support any statement in support of Ukraine's EU accession at the European Council later this week. "The Ukrainians cannot make a single step towards accession until the Hungarian cultural community's rights are returned. No pressure from Brussels would force us to give up [this condition]," the minister said. The Hungarian government has been critical of Ukraine because it sees Kyiv as limiting the language and educational rights of the Hungarian minorities in Ukraine's Transcarpathia region. The government of Viktor Orbán also launched a campaign against Ukraine's EU accession, portraying this as an imminent threat to the EU's economy. At earlier EU summits 26 member states issued statements in support of Ukraine's accession without Hungary.
Time Magazine
7 days ago
- Business
- Time Magazine
What Conflict in the Middle East Means for Climate Change
The consequences of the increasingly urgent hostilities between Israel and Iran are multifold—humanitarian, geopolitical, and so on. If the situation deepens, it could also have important implications for energy markets and, by extension, climate change and the energy transition. Central to that picture are oil prices. In the past month, oil prices have risen nearly 25% as hostilities have deepened. On its own, Iran is a significant supplier of oil to global markets, producing roughly 4 million barrels of oil daily, and traders fear that its supply could be cut off. A bigger conflagration could mean significantly higher prices with fears about supply issues across the region, especially as traveling through the Strait of Hormuz grows trickier. Governments play a key role shaping everything related to the production and consumption of energy, but nonetheless energy is not divorced from market fundamentals broadly and, specifically, the effect of prices. And perhaps no price is more closely tracked in energy markets than the price of a barrel of crude. But how a high-price environment for oil would shake out is complicated—with some clear pluses for decarbonization efforts as well as some big challenges. On the one hand, high oil prices incentivize investment in alternatives, in this case electrification. Consumers may take a closer look at electric vehicles to save at the pump. Or they may just buy smaller, more fuel efficient cars, a climate win. Meanwhile, companies may take another look at the numbers for ditching diesel in heavy industry. On the other hand, high oil prices incentivize fossil fuel companies to drill more to try to take advantage of high prices. Projects that looked too expensive when prices were low start to take on a new sheen when they're on the rise. None of these factors are likely to play out in a straightforward fashion—and we don't have to look too far back for a similar analogue. In 2022, oil prices rose dramatically following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, quickly shifting the conversation around clean energy. Clean energy advocates responded vociferously that renewables could provide stability as Europe tried to wean itself off of Russian energy. In the U.S., they argued, renewables would contribute to energy security. These arguments helped advance clean energy—even if they weren't decisive. The RePowerEU initiative, launched in the wake of the invasion, helped accelerate the expansion of wind and solar power in the bloc. And energy security was among the arguments that helped get the Inflation Reduction Act across the finish line. At the same time, oil companies largely avoided bringing new oil production online. It was hard to predict how long the high price environment would be sustained. Moreover, executives concluded that they could easily reap the financial benefits of higher prices and resulting higher profitability without taking on the risk of big new investments. This time around we can certainly expect Trump to double down on his pressure on the industry to drill more to keep prices down (Biden did this, too). But up to this point the industry has largely rebuffed these entreaties. So how should companies understand the oil price dynamic? For one, it's helpful to keep an eye on the long-term trajectory. In its annual oil market report released this week, the International Energy Agency found the market to be well supplied in the medium term even as demand continues to grow because of planned increases in output from the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Guyana, and Argentina But for companies the volatility is also a reminder of some of the greatest strengths of renewable energy: it's local and not prone to geopolitical disruption. And, while production may vary day-to-day as the winds blow, prices can be set for decades—immune from the whipsaws of global commodity prices. To get this story in your inbox, subscribe to the TIME CO2 Leadership Report newsletter here.
Budapest Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Budapest Times
FM: Phasing out EU's imports of Russian gas and oil by end of 2027 would ruin Hungary
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, warned that a plan drafted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would put an end to Hungary's energy security. Minister Szijjártó told the Financial Times' Energy Transition Summit in Athens that the RePowerEU roadmap for phasing out the European Union's imports of Russian gas and oil by the end of 2027 would 'ruin' Hungary, as the country couldn't manage its energy supply without deliveries from Russia. The foreign minister warned that, if the plan was implemented, the cost of Hungary's energy supply would climb by an annual EUR 2bn, causing household utility bills to double or triple. Minister Szijjártó said Hungary's energy supply was determined solely by geography and infrastructure, not by politics or ideology. He added that Russia had been the most dependable source of energy for Hungary so far. 'That is not a political declaration. That is not for ideological reasons. Rather, it is based on facts and our experience,' he said. Minister Szijjártó noted that Hungary, a landlocked country, had spent several hundred million euros on interconnectors with the energy networks of its neighbours in recent years. He also called out the EC for failing to provide financial support for the expansion of the gas network in Southeast Europe to support diversification. He said the plan to phase out Russian hydrocarbon imports would violate Hungary's sovereignty, as decisions on the national energy mix were in the scope of power of member states, according to the EU treaties. Instead of supporting diversification, the plan would lead to strong dependency, he added. Minister Szijjártó said the government would fight against the plan in order to preserve Hungary's energy security. 'We're not alone in the matter, as Slovakia is in a similar situation and depends on the same delivery routes,' he added. He welcomed the exclusion of Russian nuclear fuel from the plan, but suggested a close cooperation between the nuclear energy industries of Western Europe and Russia was the reason for the decision. 'That isn't a problem, but a double standard shouldn't be applied,' he added. Minister Szijjártó said energy diversification was important for Hungary's government, but only in the sense of tapping new sources, not exchanging one source of supply for another.
