FX.co ★ Germany urges Hungary to agree to Russian oil embargo

Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that Germany was willing to forego Hungary's participation in an EU-wide agreement on a crude oil embargo against Russia."If the Commission president says we're doing this as 26 without Hungary, then that is a path that I would always support," Habeck said, as quoted by Reuters.Germany is one of the staunchest opponents of sanctioning Russia's oil industry. At the beginning of May, Germany announced that it planned to stop importing Russian oil by the end of the year even if the European Union fails to agree on an EU-wide ban.Due to its heavy dependence on Russian oil, Hungary has been skeptical on applying energy sanctions on Russia. Along with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Hungary requested and got a temporary exemption from the embargo under discussion to give it more time to switch suppliers.Bulgaria, which also depends on Russian oil imports, was initially denied an exemption. However, after threatening to veto the embargo, the country joined Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.The other EU countries have agreed to phase out purchases of Russian crude oil within six months and refined products within nine months.Discussions on the embargo are still in progress.Germany has signalled before that it is ready to stop oil and gas imports from Russia. In April, Germany's economy minister said that the country could stop importing Russian oil by the end of the summer. He later added that the share of Russian oil in Germany's total imports had dropped from 35% to 12% even before the start of the war in Ukraine. The new oil suppliers have not been named.Meanwhile, oil continues to appreciate.