Hungary to seek to overturn EU’s Russian energy ban

(MENAFN) Hungary plans to contest the European Union’s RePowerEU initiative banning Russian energy imports at the European Court of Justice once the plan is formally adopted, according to its Foreign Minister.

The EU launched the RePowerEU strategy in 2022 following the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, aiming to eliminate Russian fossil fuel imports entirely by the end of 2027. A provisional deal announced last week between the European Council and Parliament sets a halt to Russian liquefied natural gas imports by the end of 2026, with pipeline deliveries phased out by November 2027.

Hungary and Slovakia, both heavily reliant on Russian energy, have objected to the plan, citing threats to their national energy security. Posting on X, Hungary’s foreign minister stated that Budapest and Bratislava will submit an “annulment request to the European Court of Justice” once the regulation is adopted and will seek suspension of the rules while the case is under review.

“We are taking this step because banning Russian oil and gas imports would make the secure energy supply of Hungary and Slovakia impossible and would lead to dramatic price increases,” he wrote, describing the regulation as “massive legal fraud.”

The minister further contended that the measure is effectively a “sanctions measure” that should require unanimous approval from all 27 EU member states. He criticized the European Commission for circumventing Hungarian and Slovak vetoes by framing the decision under EU trade and energy law, which only requires a qualified majority.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly cautioned that severing Russian energy supplies would increase costs and threaten long-term stability, a stance mirrored by Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, who said his country has “sufficient legal grounds to consider filing a lawsuit.”

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