Hungary and Slovakia oppose EU on Russian oil and gas imports

Budapest and Bratislava will oppose the European Commission’s plan to phase out Russian oil and gas by 2028, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán said.

According to the Hungarian PM, the two countries were “one team,” as he insisted “we cannot accept the EU proposal that we should not buy Russian oil and gas any more.”

He stressed this will create serious problems with the supply of energy and increase utility costs by 2-3 times in Hungary and Slovakia.

The EC has proposed a complete ban on EU countries purchasing gas and oil from Russia by the start of 2028, with imports under short-term gas contracts to be stopped as early as June 17, 2026.

Brussels planned to formalize the ban not as a foreign political decision, but as a trade norm, which will make it possible to approve it by a qualified majority of votes in the Council of the EU, depriving member states of their veto right.

However, Hungary and Slovakia refused to pass the decision in any form, linking it to an 18th package of EU sanctions against Moscow. Budapest and Bratislava seek to be exempted from Brussels' energy plan in exchange for approving new anti-Russia sanctions.