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Ukraine and the End of the Hungarian Economic Blockade

By Alberto Rojas (El Mostrador)

HAVANA TIMES – What happens in Budapest can alter decisions in Brussels, just as what happens in Washington, Berlin, or Paris affects the battlefield in Eastern Europe.

For months, the government of Viktor Orbán maintained one of the most uncomfortable positions for the European Union since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Why? Budapest had blocked an aid package worth nearly 90 billion euros, using the unanimity mechanism that governs the bloc’s foreign policy to halt a strategic decision supported by the rest of the member states.

Hungary had effectively become the EU’s main internal point of friction, since for years Orban had cultivated an ambiguous relationship with Russia, marked by strong energy dependence, especially on Russian oil arriving through the Druzhba pipeline, one of the main arteries connecting Russia with Central Europe. And that flow is no small matter.

Hungary is one of the countries most dependent on Russian crude within the EU. Before the war, that dependence exceeded 60% of its oil imports. After European sanctions and some logistical adjustments, that figure declined, but still remains in an approximate range of between 50% and 60%, depending on timing and supply conditions.

The critical point is that much of this oil continues to arrive through the Druzhba pipeline, which was explicitly excluded from the........

© Havana Times