Hungary comparing EU sanctions on Russia to bombs is 'inappropriate', says EU Commission
The European Commission denounced Hungary's poster campaign comparing EU sanctions on Russia to bombs as "inappropriate" on Wednesday.
The Hungarian government has been promoting a "national consultation" on the sanctions with a poster campaign featuring pictures of bombs as "sanctions".
"It is inappropriate to show pictures of bombs or of missiles in relation to the sanctions, thinking that the aim of the sanctions is precisely to stop the bombs from falling on Ukraine," Dana Spinant, the European Commission's deputy chief spokesperson, told reporters.
The EU has so far imposed eight rounds of sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, targeting imports of Russian coal, oil, steel, and wood in addition to a ban on exporting certain high-tech products to Russia in a bid to derail its ability to fund the war.
Viktor Orban, the populist far-right Prime Minister, has increasingly decried the sanctions as having a larger impact on European economies than their intended target. In May, he said that sanctions on Russian oil would have the effect of a "nuclear bomb" on his country's economy.
EU sanctions have to be approved unanimously, meaning Hungary has approved each package. But Budapest has used its veto power to carve out some exceptions, most notably on the bloc's oil embargo.
Hungary also blocked adding Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a staunch ally of President Vladimir Putin, to the sanctions list. It recently struck a new supply deal with Russian gas giant Gazprom despite calls around the EU to reduce dependence on Russian energy supplies.
It argues the so-called "national consultation" on sanctions is the first in an EU country to enable its citizens to voice their opinion in a bid to give
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