The foreign ministers of the European Union agreed to proceed with the preparation and imposition of new sanctions at the expense of of Russia in their informal meeting in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, following the order of the Russian president Vladimir Putin to become a partial conscription. However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is calling for the lifting of sanctions against Russia.
The Hungarian prime minister has informed the ruling Fidesz party that EU-imposed sanctions against Russia should be lifted, pro-government newspaper Magyar Nemzet reported late last night. Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs confirmed Orban’s comments in an emailed response to Reuters, the Athens News Agency reports. Orban, a fierce critic of sanctions of the EU against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, made the above comments at a closed-door meeting of his party members on Wednesday. According to the Magyar Nemzet report, Orban stated that the EU sanctions have led to price increase of natural gas and inflation and added that if these were lifted, natural gas prices would immediately drop by 50%, while inflation would decrease.
Without the sanctions Europe could regain its strength and avoid the threatened recession, as Orbán is reported to have said, repeating that the sanctions are hurting Europe more than Russia. On his Facebook page, Orbán posted the following: “Brussels sanctions have pushed Europe into an energy crisis”.
In July, Orbán said the EU had “shot itself in the lungs” with ill-conceived economic sanctions against Russia, which if not lifted, risk destroy the European economy.
Orban has a good relationship with the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Until now he supported EU sanctions against Russia. At the same time, he managed to negotiate an exemption for his country from the oil embargo. Decisions to impose EU sanctions require unanimity among member countries. THE Hungary has been a member of the bloc since 2004.
Source: News Beast
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