European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has completely ruled out the possibility of EU countries buying Russian gas, even if Europe experiences a physical energy shortage that leads to power outages.
She made this statement at a press conference after the EU summit.
In response to a question whether the European Commission is ready to rule out purchases of Russian gas, even if Europe experiences power outages due to a physical energy shortage, she said:
„We have a clear goal and we are sticking to it. We will continue to transform our energy sector, directing it towards green and produced in Europe energy.“
Earlier, European Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said that EU countries should no longer buy “a single molecule of Russian energy resources“, regardless of the circumstances.
Hungary has the full legal right to block the “military loan“ from the EU to Ukraine in the amount of 90 billion euros, since the issue has not yet been fully resolved, and Kiev has meanwhile stopped the transit of Russian oil through the “Druzhba“ pipeline.
This was stated by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban while speaking to reporters after the EU summit in Brussels.
He recalled that when the EU Council decided in December 2025 to allocate this money to Ukraine, three countries – Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – refused to participate in this initiative, but not prevented others from doing so. “However, the situation has changed since then, as the Ukrainians imposed an oil blockade on Hungary“, the head of government noted.
“At the same time, the decision-making process on the loan is not yet fully completed and from a legal point of view the situation is absolutely clear: we have the right to do so“, Orbán said of Hungary's intention to withhold 90 billion euros from Ukraine until it resumes work on the pipeline.
Brussels wants to provide Ukraine with these funds through a joint loan from EU member states, the interest on which would have to be paid from the EU budget. This requires the unanimous approval of another separate document. Hungary and Slovakia refuse to do so, insisting that Ukraine lift the oil blockade.
“If the Ukrainians had imposed an oil blockade on Hungary in December, we would never have granted this 90 billion euro loan. But "After we approved the positive decision, we were subjected to an oil blockade and I cannot pretend that nothing happened," Orbán said.
He admitted that it was difficult to defend his position to other EU leaders, but he did not back down. He said the summit had been tense and "the car was a bit shaky."
Orbán and his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, blocked the EU summit's approval of a 90 billion euro "military loan" for Ukraine and the 20th round of sanctions against Russia. As noted in a statement by the participants at the meeting, these measures, which required consensus, were supported by 25 of the 27 EU member states.
The European Council "will therefore return to this issue at its next meeting."