The European Union again thought about the deprivation of Hungary of the rights of voting

The European Union discuss how to deprive the rights of voting Hungary, which imposed a veto to extend sanctions against the Russian Federation. A compromise was found.

As he says edition Financial Times, on the agenda, the question of the deprivation of voice was brought out by the position of Budapest on anti -Russian decisions. According to the newspaper, they want to apply article 7 of the contract to Hungary EUWhat will be an extreme measure to deprive the member state of the voice. However, in Brussels they are aware of the “political problems and consequences of such a step.”

The probability of deprivation of Hungary of the vote will increase in case of refusal of a Russian public to maintain an extension of the validity of economic sanctions against Russia. Budapest threatens to block the extension of the EU sanctions against two thousand Russians (this is necessary for a unanimous decision of all community countries) if businessman Mikhail Friedman is not excluded from the list.

The time to extend the sanctions has expired, the duration of the restrictive measures against Russian individuals and legal entities ended at midnight on Saturday. As a result, after several unsuccessful attempts to agree, a compromise was found.

Hungary agreed to remove the veto to extend the sanctions that the EU introduced against more than 2400 individuals and legal entities, mainly from the Russian Federation, in response to a full -scale invasion of the Russian Federation to Ukraine. The decision was made on Friday March 14.

It is worth recalling that the sanctions should be extended every six months unanimously, which means that only one EU state can alone disrupt the process. This week, Hungary several times confirmed its veto at the meetings of ambassadors: unsuccessful attempts were made on Monday, Wednesday and, finally, on Thursday afternoon.

Budapest demanded to exclude several names, They said EURONEWS several diplomats. Names were not called, but Radio Free Europe previously reported that the names of the seven entrepreneurs, including Mikhail Friedman and Dmitry Mazepin, as well as the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, were mentioned as part of the request.

After intense negotiations, a compromise was reached, and on Friday a decision was made to extend the sanctions for another six months.

For the last three months, this is the second case, when the Victor Orban government puts Brussels in a difficult situation, threatening to cancel the sanctions regime, which the block painstakingly built in February 2022.

In January, Hungary did not agree with sectoral economic restrictions that cover large -scale prohibitions on oil, coal, technology, finance, luxury items, transport and television and broadcasting, as well as freezing of the assets of the Russian Central Bank in the amount of 210 billion euros. Budapest surrendered, receiving the requested guarantees regarding its energy security.

This time, Budapest aimed at a black list, including hundreds of military leaders, government officials, oligarchs, propagandists and mercenaries from the Wagner PMC, whose assets are frozen and a ban on their trips was introduced. Among others, the list of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Hundreds of Russian companies in military, banking, transport, energy, aviation, IT, telecommunication and media spheres were blacklisted. Hungary, meanwhile, argues that Trump’s return to the White House and his efforts to conclude a peace agreement require rethinking the support of Ukraine by the EU and sanctions against Russia.

A similar position is not shared by other euros-member countries, which believe that the pressure on Moscow should continue throughout the war. They also want to adhere to the “Peace through force” strategy in order to strengthen the position of Ukraine in negotiations and increase the efficiency of the country's armed forces as an effective and long -term security guarantee.

Orban does not agree with the “Mir through force” strategy and last week prevented the adoption of joint conclusions in Ukraine at the end of the EU special summit, forcing his fellow leaders to release a document signed by 26 countries. The President of the European Council Antoniu Costa said:

“Hungary has another strategic approach to Ukraine. This means that Hungary is isolated in a number of 27 countries. We respect the position of Hungary, but it is one of the EU members. And 26 countries are more than one.”

Leaving the summit, Orban replied:

“The European Union has isolated itself from the United States, isolated itself from China because of the trade war and isolated itself from Russia because of the sanctions policy. So if someone is in isolation, then this is the European Union.”

A sharp political discrepancy in the views was manifested during negotiations at the meeting of the EU ambassadors: Hungary managed to block the coagulation of negotiations, at least in three cases this week. The veto was imposed on the same week when officials of the United States and Ukraine announced considerable progress in negotiations in Saudi Arabia.

Ukraine said that she agrees to a 30-day ceasefire, provided that Russia will also observe it. The United States, in turn, agreed to immediately resume military assistance and exchange of intelligence with Kyiv. “The ball is on the side of Russia,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In response, Vladimir Putin declaredWhat supports the proposal to cease to be, but suggested clarifying some “nuances” before taking on obligations. Putin unequivocally hinted that Ukraine should stop receiving Western weapons during the ceasefire.

The European Commission confirmed that it was working on the seventeenth package of sanctions against Russia.

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