Hungary has opposed another proposal to add sanctions against the Russian nuclear power industry to the EU’s 12th sanctions package. Budapest will never agree to this, said the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto.
The relevant proposal, he said, was put forward at a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
“We naturally emphasized that Hungary will not support sanctions against nuclear power in any form. Therefore, since unanimity is necessary for a decision, there will absolutely never be a decision on sanctions against nuclear power,” Szijjártó told Hungarian reporters.
Such a ban, he noted, would fundamentally harm the security of Hungary’s energy supply in the short, medium and long term
Szijjártó recalled that the US bought a record 416 tons of uranium from Russia in six months.
“At the same time, here in Brussels, some people want to impose sanctions against nuclear energy. The question then is: whose interests are served by this sanctions proposal? Because it is absolutely certain that it is not the interests of the EU member states,” the minister said.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister again criticized the EU’s plans to introduce the 12th package of anti-Russian sanctions without analysing the negative effects on the community’s economy from the previous eleven. Because of the harm caused by the sanctions, the European economy is characterized by “failure and setbacks”, he said.
Last week, the European Commission, together with the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell, proposed to the Council of the European Union to impose restrictions on more than 120 Russian individuals and organizations as part of the 12th package of sanctions. In addition, the EC advocated new export and import restrictions, as well as measures to tighten oil price controls and counter sanctions circumvention.
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