Hungary announces that it is blocking the EU loan of 90 billion euros to Ukraine until the resumption of oil deliveries through the Drujba pipeline: “We will not give in to this blackmail”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto. Photo source: Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP / Profimedia
Hungary will block a 90-billion-euro European Union loan to Ukraine until oil transit to Hungary through the Drujba pipeline is resumed, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Friday, according to Reuters.
“We are blocking the 90 billion euro loan of the European Union for Ukraine until the oil transit to Hungary via the Drujba pipeline is resumed.
Ukraine is blackmailing Hungary by stopping oil transit, in coordination with Brussels and the Hungarian opposition, to cause supply disruptions and push up fuel prices ahead of elections.
By blocking the transit of oil to Hungary through the Drujba pipeline, Ukraine is violating the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and violating its commitments to the European Union. We will not give in to this blackmail,” Szijjarto wrote on X.
The government in Budapest claims that Ukraine keeps blocked the Drujba pipeline through which Russian oil is delivered to Hungary and Slovakia, countries that are now forced to resort to their strategic oil reserves.
According to Kiev's version, the Drujba pipeline was damaged by a Russian attack last month. But the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Slovak Robert Fico say that the repairs have been completed, but Ukraine keeps the pipeline blocked in an action of “political blackmail” against Budapest, as Orban refuses to support it in the war with Russia and opposes a future accession of Ukraine to the EU, reports EFE and MTI press agencies, quoted by Agerpres.
Szijjarto announced on Wednesday that Hungary has suspended diesel deliveries to Ukraine, which will only resume if the latter unblocks the Drujba pipeline, which he said was stopped “following a political decision taken by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy”.
According to some Hungarian media sources, about 6% of the diesel fuel consumed by Ukraine comes from Hungary.
And Slovakia announced that it is forced to call on strategic oil reserves following the stoppage of the flow through the Drujba pipeline. The government led by Prime Minister Robert Fico approved the release of approximately half of the strategic reserves and making them available to the petrochemical company Slovnaft, owned by the Hungarian company MOL, in order to maintain the supply of the local market, while stopping exports to Ukraine and other countries.
Hungary and Slovakia have oil stocks that ensure their consumption for about three months.
