Description: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has threatened to block the next round of EU sanctions against Russia if and whether the Ukrainian gas pipeline isn’t made operational once again. He blamed both EU and Ukraine for inflicting serious economic damage to Hungary since the country has been strongly dependent on Russian natural gas. Orban also blamed the Ukrainian military for the disruption of gas through the Turkish Stream pipeline, which according to him has been attacked and sabotaged more than once. The EU would need to unanimously vote on the next round of sanctions against Russia as Hungarian veto could possibly prevent that from happening.
Impact: The sanctions have been the main weapon of EU, NATO and the US in countering Russian military efforts in Ukraine. Potential veto to the sanctions could substantially empower the Russian military economy and weaken Ukraine’s defense efforts. EU has been redundant in discovering alternatives in the energy field since most European countries have been strongly dependent on Russian gas. Russia would seek to further enlarge their influence in Hungary, Slovakia and Belarus in an attempt for EU to faulter amid another round of sanctions. The EU should considerably invest in finding alternative energy supply and restructuring the energy policy as that could probably threaten the Union’s internal stability.