Hungary will veto any EU sanctions against Russia’s nuclear sector, the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday.
“We will not allow sanctions that would further increase Hungarian inflation,” he told state radio, “I will not let nuclear energy be included in the scope of sanctions.”
The Hungarian leader’s comments come as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are pushing hard for sanctions against Russia’s nuclear industry and state-run company Rosatom, according to a document seen by POLITICO.
The Commission has not yet made a formal proposal but is taking soundings for a 10th sanctions package against Moscow that it aims to time with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The bloc’s ambassadors are set to kick off fresh discussions on sanctions Friday.
Moscow’s nuclear sector has so far escaped being sanctioned by the EU, in part because Rosatom still supplies fuel to reactors in several member countries, including Finland and Bulgaria.
Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant — which meets 40 percent of Hungary’s electricity needs — is also powered by Russian nuclear fuel, while Rosatom is currently partnering with Budapest to build two additional reactors at the facility.
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