Compromise with restrictions: EU countries agree on oil embargo

So now after all: The EU states have found a compromise in the dispute over the planned oil embargo against Russia - but there are considerable exceptions under pressure from Hungary.

Compromise with restrictions: EU countries agree on oil embargo

So now after all: The EU states have found a compromise in the dispute over the planned oil embargo against Russia - but there are considerable exceptions under pressure from Hungary. Council President Charles Michel announced the breakthrough in the negotiations during the night.

The EU countries have agreed on a compromise in the dispute over the planned oil embargo against Russia. More than two-thirds of Russian oil supplies to the EU are said to be affected by the import ban, as EU Council President Charles Michel announced at night during the EU summit meeting in Brussels. The Belgian wrote on Twitter of "maximum pressure on Russia" to end the war against Ukraine.

According to diplomats, the compromise stipulates that, at Hungary's insistence, only Russian oil deliveries by sea will be blocked for the time being. Transports by pipeline should initially continue to be possible. For the time being, Hungary will continue to be able to obtain Russian oil overland via the huge Druzhba pipeline. Refineries in eastern Germany and Poland as well as in Slovakia and the Czech Republic are also connected to it. However, Germany and Poland have already made it clear that they do not want to benefit from the pipeline oil exemption.

Due to the additional waiver by Germany and Poland, Russia could only sell a tenth of the previous oil volume to the EU in the coming year. This is intended to punish the country for its war against Ukraine, which has now been going on for more than three months. According to estimates by the EU think tank Bruegel, until recently, EU countries were still spending around 450 million euros a day on oil from Russia.

For weeks before the breakthrough at the summit of heads of state and government in Brussels, Hungary had referred to its heavy dependence on Russian oil and blocked an agreement on an embargo. This was also relevant because it is part of an entire package of sanctions. In addition to the oil embargo, this also provides for excluding the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, from the Swift financial communication network. In addition, Russia's state television news channel Russia 24 (Rossiya 24) and the state broadcasters RTR Planeta and TV Center are to be banned in the EU.