2024-02-16 16:18:42
The European Union is set to impose an embargo on companies from China and India that supply Russia with components crucial to its ability to wage war in Ukraine. If the European Commission’s proposal passes, it will be the first time that Chinese and Indian companies will also feel the sanctions on Moscow. But there is a catch. Hungary opposed the proposal, which requires the consent of all EU member states.
The EU states are preparing another, already the thirteenth package of sanctions against Russia, which, as usual, contains the names of people, companies and authorities who, according to Brussels, keep the Kremlin’s war machine strong. European politicians aim to approve new sanctions by February 24, the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This time there are about two hundred items on the blacklist, including 21 companies. Four of them are Chinese for the first time and, according to the EU, are among the key exporters of strategic goods to Russia. And it was because of them that Hungary was the only one against at the meeting of ambassadors of the twenty-seventh in Brussels on Wednesday early evening.
The Hungarians did not give a specific reason. According to information from Aktuálně.cz, they only said that they had to “still study” the whole proposal. They have until February 21, when the ambassadors of the EU countries want to return to the sanctions with the aim of approving them.
The names of the Chinese companies on the list are secret for legal reasons. These are companies that produce dual-use goods, meaning they can be used for civilian purposes as well as for warfare. In this case, it is specifically drones and drone components that China supplies to Russia.
Inclusion on the sanctions list means that EU companies would not be allowed to do business with the firms in any way. Budapest’s ambassadors in Brussels did not say how specifically this would threaten Hungarian vital interests, which the state can legitimately point to when imposing sanctions.
However, Viktor Orbán’s government already bet years ago on cooperation with Beijing in addition to that with Russia. The Russians are building a nuclear power plant in Paksi, Chinese companies have expanded into many areas in the country. They are completely repairing the railway network in Budapest, they also want to build a large-capacity factory for the production of batteries for electric cars in Hungary. Despite public protests, Orbán continues with a plan to establish a Chinese university in the capital for ten thousand students under the full control of the Beijing Communists.
It is not the first time that Hungary has blocked a proposal related to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the EU. Most recently, Orbán’s government refused to agree to monetary aid to Kyiv in the amount of 50 billion euros (1.2 trillion crowns). The Hungarian Prime Minister’s resistance was broken only at the beginning of February after several weeks of intense pressure from other EU leaders.
Similarly, in 2021, Orbán vetoed at the last minute a critical statement by the EU against China, which responded to the approval of a new security law that led to police repression against Hong Kong residents. The matter fell under the table, the union did not try the same thing a second time.
In the case of a new sanctions package against Russia, EU representatives are optimistic. “Orbán will dodge. So far, he has always dodged when it came to a matter that everyone else really cared about,” one of the diplomats of a large member country told Aktuálně.cz in Brussels off the record.
Video: Hungary is a tragic phenomenon, says Pavel Telička (6/9/2023)
“Hungary is a truly tragic phenomenon. It is a de facto Trojan horse in Euro-Atlantic society,” reports Pavel Telička. | Video: Aktuálně.cz