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The European Union is facing another potential showdown with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over his refusal to sign off on an extension of sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine.
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Bloomberg News
Alberto Nardelli, Jorge Valero and Andrea Palasciano
Published Jan 22, 2025 • 2 minute read
(Bloomberg) — The European Union is facing another potential showdown with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over his refusal to sign off on an extension of sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine.
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Orban lashed out Tuesday at the bloc’s sanctions regime — which has to be renewed every six months and is set to expire on Jan. 31 — saying the 15 rounds of penalties are harming Europe’s economies. In December, Orban said he wanted to wait for Donald Trump’s inauguration before deciding on a renewal.
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In his first days in office, Trump has given no signs that he intends to loosen sanctions on Moscow, and on Tuesday said he would likely impose more measures if President Vladimir Putin doesn’t come to the table to negotiate on Ukraine.
EU ambassadors will be meeting several times in the coming days to see if they can advance the renewal, which up to now has been a routine debate but does require the unanimous support of the bloc’s 27 member states. Several diplomats said there is currently no Plan B for extending the sanctions should Orban continue to block them.
If the bloc’s diplomats are unable to agree on an extension this week, the issue would be escalated to foreign ministers, who are due to meet in Brussels on Jan. 27, according to people familiar with the matter. One of the people said the bloc was still hoping to sort the rollover this week.
Orban has threatened other Ukraine-related measures in the past, before eventually backing down.
“It’s time to throw sanctions out the window and to create a sanctions-free relationship with the Russians,” Orban told state radio on Friday. “This is some way off,” he added, “but we need to work on this.”
Even as the renewal remains stuck, the EU continues to discuss a 16th round of sanctions, as Bloomberg previously reported. Most of those plans would also require Budapest’s support.
EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said Wednesday the EU should explore more sanctions to curtail Russia’s revenues from its energy exports.
“The imports of Russian liquefied natural gas currently are actually increasing, so there are ways that we can still put more pressure on Russia,” he said at Davos during a panel on Russian economy.
—With assistance from Daniel Hornak and Zoltan Simon.
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