Hungary: EU should talk to Trump before extending sanctions against Russia

Hungary believes that the EU should decide to extend sanctions against Russia only after consulting with the new US administration.

As reported by Reuters, Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs Janos Boka said that Hungary has not yet decided whether it will support the decision to extend sanctions.

"I think it is only natural that before we decide on the rollover for another six months, we ask the incoming US administration how they see the future of the sanctions regime," Boka said.

"There is no decision on the Hungarian position yet," Boka added. "We want to reserve our decision until we know how the US administration sees the future of the sanctions regime."

The EU has approved 15 packages of sanctions against Russia since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and is working on a 16th package of measures.

Boka said that the sanctions to be extended cover various sectors of the economy and freeze the assets of the Russian central bank.

The EU renews existing sanctions every six months, and this requires unanimity among its 27 member states.

The extension of sanctions has been a routine decision, and usually the political decision on this was made at the last EU summit of the year. However, at the last summit in December, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told his colleagues to wait until after Trump's inauguration.

The European Commission intends to propose sanctions against Russia that will, for the first time, avoid a veto by Hungary and Slovakia.