Ukraine to provide assessment on restoring Druzhba oil pipeline, Hungary has alternatives – Costa
President of the European Council António Costa said an agreement had been reached under which Ukraine would assess the work needed to restore the Druzhba oil pipeline, which was damaged in a Russian attack on January 27.
At a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Costa said that when an EU member state faced problems with a third country, it was for EU institutions to support the member state and address the issue with that country, adding that this was what he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had done regarding the pipeline. He said Ukraine would, in the coming days, carry out an assessment of how long the restoration would take.
He said Hungary and Slovakia had alternative routes for oil supplies. Costa pointed to the Adriatic pipeline from Croatia to Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia, and added that there were other territorial options as well, describing it as a minor issue in terms of safeguarding energy supplies.
Costa said this was a completely different matter from the behavior of an EU member state within the EU.
He said the conduct of an EU member state had to be guided by the principle of fair and sincere cooperation and that, once the European Council agreed and adopted a decision, all member states had to cooperate to implement it, meaning no one could stop or try to block a decision adopted by the European Council. Costa said he had written to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, telling him that Hungary was violating the principle of fair and sincere cooperation, and urging Budapest to immediately cooperate in implementing the European Council decision adopted on December 18.
Costa made the remarks while commenting on Orbán’s statements about his intention to block the EU’s reparations loan to Ukraine of EUR 90 billion because, as Orbán claims, the Ukrainian side had allegedly deliberately suspended oil supplies via Druzhba.
As reported, the European Commission expects all leaders who have committed to providing Ukraine with a EUR 90 billion loan, including Orbán, who has said he is blocking it, to honor their political commitments, warning that failure to do so would breach the principle of loyal cooperation. Hungary is blocking the loan, demanding the resumption of Russian oil supplies via Ukraine through the Druzhba pipeline, which was damaged as a result of Russian attacks.
