Hungary keeping EU 'hostage' over Russian oil ban, Lithuanian minister claims
Despite not being on the official agenda, Brussel's proposed Russian oil embargo was on Monday looming large over a meeting of foreign affairs ministers with accusations some member states are holding the bloc "hostage".
The proposal to phase out Russian oil across the bloc was unveiled 12 days ago by Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.
But unlike the five previous sanction packages that were swiftly approved by the 27 capitals, negotiations have stalled with no resolution seemingly in sight.
Four member states particularly dependent on Russian fossil fuels — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia — are demanding the European Commission allow them to continue importing Russian energy past December 2024, which already constitutes a significant delay from the rest of the bloc.
Hungary is seen as the primary hold-out with Prime Minister Viktor Orban describing the oil ban as an "atomic bomb" for his country's economy.
Speaking upon arriving at the Foreign Ministers Council in Brussels on Monday, Lithuania's Foreign Affairs Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, argued that "now, unfortunately, the whole Union is being held hostage by one member state who cannot help us find a consensus."
Asked specifically if he had a message for his Hungarian counterpart, he replied: "We have to agree. We cannot be held hostage."
"The Commission really offered some solutions which we were looking at as too relaxed. We're talking almost of a ban of oil that would end, the phase out, by December 31 of 2024," he went on. "That's a very, very broad scope. I think everybody expected that this would be enough and I cannot explain why it isn't."
"One of the solutions could be to help Ukraine to decouple itself from Russian oil and gas because
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