Rumours about EU plans to tax Russian oil
June 10th, 2022Commenting on the alleged plan to impose a heavy European import duty on Russian oil, a conservative thinks that the EU would harm its own unity if it circumvents a member state’s right to veto collective decisions.
According to Spiegel magazine, the European Commission is exploring the possibility of levying an import tax on Russian oil. The German weekly writes that the introduction of the tariff would need the approval of a qualified majority of EU member states in the European Council, and therefore Hungary could not veto it.
On Mandiner, Gergely Dobozi finds the alleged plan of EU tariffs on Russian oil a ‘barbarous idea’. Dobozi claims that taxing Russian crude oil would harm those countries including Hungary that were exempted from the consensual oil embargo agreed on last week (see BudaPost June 6). If approved, the tariffs would empty out the oil embargo deal and would also circumvent national governments, Dobozi complains. He concludes by claiming that such proposals weaken the sovereignty of EU members – and weaken trust in the EU.