EU fails to embargo on Russian oil

The EU foreign ministers' meeting was held in Brussels on the 16th. The meeting failed to agree on a sixth round of sanctions proposals, including an oil embargo on Russia, due to objections from Hungary.

Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said at a press conference after the meeting that the meeting failed to reach an agreement on the final adoption of the sixth round of sanctions proposals, and the permanent representatives of member states to the EU will continue to discuss this. Foreign ministers encountered the same difficulty when trying to agree on an oil ban. Borrell said Hungary's position was based on economic rather than political concerns.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Lanzbergis, who attended the meeting, said that the EU's plan to impose an oil embargo on Russia was blocked by only one of the 27 EU member states.

Important matters such as EU foreign policy are subject to the principle of unanimous approval, and any member state has the right to veto.

Borrell also said that the EU will provide an additional 500 million euros to support Ukraine's purchase of weapons, and the EU's military assistance to Ukraine has reached 2 billion euros.

Hungary is highly dependent on Russian energy, with more than 60% of its oil and 85% of its natural gas from Russia. On May 4, the European Commission submitted its sixth round of proposals for sanctions against Russia, including a complete ban on imports of Russian oil by the end of this year. Hungary immediately objected and said it hoped to receive large compensation from the EU to offset the loss of its own abandonment of Russian oil.