The European Commission and Hungary are negotiating an investment program to remove dependence on Russian energy and approve the sixth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation.
Brussels hopes to reach an agreement with Budapest on the issue of an embargo on Russian oil imports in the coming days. El Pais sources are hopeful that a possible agreement will allow sanctions to be approved this or next week.
The European Commission believes that the consent of the Hungarian authorities will be reached in the short term thanks to multimillion-dollar investments in the country's energy security.
The agreement is expected to be reached following the approval on Wednesday, May 18, of an updated community plan to rapidly reduce energy dependency.
The EC plan provides for a transitional period for the termination of fuel purchases from the Russian Federation in some EU states. This time will be used to create new infrastructure:
- in the oil sector, this is the construction of new pipelines from the west and south of the EU, as well as the expansion or increase in the potential of existing ones;
- in the gas sector, this is the commissioning of facilities with the ability to transport 20 billion cubic meters per year;
- in the electricity sector, Brussels is estimating additional investments to adapt the grids to new needs at 29 billion euros.
So far, the Hungarian Prime Minister has resisted Brussels' plans to impose an oil embargo against Russia: Budapest requests 5 years without an embargo on the Kremlin's oil and huge investments in shipping and refineries for itself.
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