Robin Emmott and Sabine Siebold

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) -EU foreign minsters tried to public pressure Hungary Monday to lift the veto on a Russian oil embargo. Lithuania claimed that it was “held hostage” by one state.

In response to Moscow’s February 24th invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission proposed a ban on crude oil imports in May. It was its most severe sanction.

Germany is the largest economy in the European Union and the biggest buyer of Russian oil. It said that it wants a deal to authorize the oil embargo. This could be for many years.

Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister, stated that she was confident of reaching an agreement with the counterparts. It is essential that we prepare it well, as it must be long-lasting.

However, Hungary, Moscow’s most close ally, said that it would like hundreds of millions from the EU to offset the costs of abandoning Russian oil. To allow the embargo to be lifted, all 27 EU states must agree.

Gabrielius Landsbergis from Lithuanian Foreign Ministry stated, “The entire union is being held captive by one state…we have to agree that we cannot be held hostage.”

While few ministers mentioned Hungary by name when speaking to journalists, Romania stated that it was the responsibility of the bloc to help Prime Minister Viktor Orban get around.

SOLUTION TO A SUMMIT

Peter Szijjarto, the Foreign Minister, stated that Budapest has not been offered any new proposals by the European Commission on oil sanctions. This was after the president of Hungary visited Hungary in early March.

On Facebook, he stated: “The European Commission has created a problem with the proposal. It’s rightful expectation by Hungary that the EU will offer a resolution: to finance and compensate for the (resulting] price increases which necessitates the total modernization of Hungary’s electricity structure in a size of 15-18 million euros.”

Szijjarto stated that another option would be for oil to be shipped via pipelines to be exempted from the proposed embargo.

The United States and Britain have already placed an oil embargo on Russia. This would come after five rounds of EU sanctions.

Josep Borrell (EU’s chief of foreign policy), stated that before the meeting with the ministers, he would do his best to end the oil sanctions impasse.

Some diplomats are now pointing to a May 30th summit as the time for agreement on the gradual banning of Russian oil. It will likely last six months and include a longer transition period in place for Hungary Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Officials from the EU said that there are other parts of the Commission’s sanctions package, which some members states have indicated they weren’t ready to support.

The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria were among those that expressed concern over a Russian proposal to prohibit the sale of properties.

Moscow refers to the invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operations” in order to expel fascists. Kyiv and Western allies claim that this is an absurd pretext for a unprovoked war.