Viktor Orbán said earlier this week that it is not a problem for us to pay for gas in rubles. However, the European Commission president said that would be in breach of EU sanctions against Russia.
If Hungary were to pay for Russian natural gas in rubles, it would violate European Union sanctions against Russia, said Ursula von der Leyen, according to CNN.
Russia charges countries it considers unfriendly in rubles for natural gas. This includes all EU countries.
As we can read in the CNN article, the EU held discussions with Budapest. “So far Hungary has stuck to the sanctions, so until we don’t see the opposite, it’s fine. Never before have we seen the European Union so united, so determined, so fast. And I think for each of our member states, also a question, do I want to be the first one to break that unity? I think no,” said Von der Leyen.
The Hungarian PM thinks this is not a problem for Hungary. According to Telex.hu, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that Russia’s demand for ruble payments concerns the contract between Gazprom and MVM’s subsidiaries, and that the parties are in talks and will only present the details afterwards.
According to him, the EU has nothing to do with the agreement concluded by the two parties, and the Hungarian government does not support the EU’s position on gas imports.
