FRONT NIEUWS

Photo: Hungarian Government

Hungary will build an oil pipeline to Serbia to evade EU sanctions. This was announced by the Hungarian government on Monday.

Serbia, which is not a member of the EU, is heavily dependent on oil from Russia via the so-called Janaf pipeline through Ukraine, Hungary and Croatia. But last week the EU decided on even tougher sanctions against Russian oil exports, which also target third countries.

Blockade-style measures force countries that are not members of the EU or participate in the sanctions to stop buying oil from Russia by making it impossible to transport Russian gas and oil through the EU. Serbia is one of the affected countries.

Build an oil pipeline

To evade EU sanctions and help Serbia, Hungary plans to build an oil pipeline directly to its southern neighbor. Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs made the announcement on Twitter. Even if neighboring Croatia to the south cuts off the oil flow, the Serbs will not be affected.

Kovacs writes that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have reached an agreement on the construction. Orban is one of the strongest voices in the EU against sanctions against Russia, which he says are seriously damaging the European economy.

“It is not in Europe’s interest to exchange Russian energy dependence for American energy, ” he said on Tuesday.

At the same time, he called for Europe to be “more independent” from both the US and Russia, and for the EU to stop “neglecting European interests”.

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