Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has called on the European Union to immediately suspend its proposal to phase out Russian energy imports, arguing that the outbreak of war between Iran and Israel has created a radically new global situation. In a statement published on his Facebook page on Sunday, Orbán warned that Hungary will not allow ‘the cost of another Brussels blunder’ to be passed on to its citizens.
According to the prime minister, Hungary will officially propose that Brussels remove the energy ban proposal from its agenda and conduct a comprehensive impact assessment on the consequences of the Middle East conflict and possible coordinated European responses.
Orbán stressed that the crisis requires urgent work. ‘We began this Sunday with economic consultations, and we’ll end the day the same way,’ he wrote, noting that the rapidly developing situation in the Middle East has direct repercussions for Hungary. The Persian Gulf, as a key source of global energy, is a critical zone for economic stability, and any conflict there immediately escalates political and financial risks worldwide.
He noted that a broader conflict could disrupt energy supply routes and send prices soaring. Indeed, global oil prices have already risen by 10 percent, and gas prices by 6 percent in just the past few days. Orbán emphasized that the situation poses a serious threat to energy-poor, energy-intensive economies like the EU’s—and particularly to Hungary.
The prime minister criticized what he described as Brussels’ ‘short-sighted’ energy policy over the past years, particularly the sanctions against the Russian energy sector. He said these have already caused factory shutdowns and rising inflation across Europe. Should Middle Eastern sources also be compromised, the European economy could ‘collapse’, he warned.
Orbán further cautioned that Brussels is now planning to tighten its energy sanctions even more by bypassing member states’ veto rights and banning all Russian fossil fuel imports from the EU. He described this as a violation not only of EU treaties but also of Hungary’s sovereign rights.
He concluded his post by recalling that the Commission plans to submit the proposal for decision-making on Monday—prompting Hungary’s urgent intervention.
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