European Commission Urges Orbán and Zelenskyy to De-escalate Rhetoric

The European Commission has publicly urged both Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to immediately “dial down” their “inflammatory rhetoric” over the Druzhba pipeline, which has pitted the two leaders in a head-to-head confrontation without precedent.

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In response to the halt in oil supplies, Orbán has vetoed a €90 billion loan to Ukraine that the 27 EU leaders had signed off on in December.

“At the moment, there is a lot of escalatory rhetoric and inflammatory rhetoric,” Olof Gill, the Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, said on Friday afternoon.

“We believe that such rhetoric from all sides is neither helpful nor conducive to achieving the common goals that we have.”

In the last 24 hours, Orbán threatened to “break the Ukrainian oil blockade by force”. In turn, Zelenskyy seemingly suggested he give Orbán’s personal address to Ukrainian soldiers to convince him to lift the veto, which Budapest interpreted as a death threat.

On Friday, Hungary detained a bank cargo heading to Ukraine carrying $40 million, €35 million and 9 kg of gold in reserves, which Kyiv condemned as “state terrorism”.

The row has caught Brussels in the middle.

“We’re in active discussions with all sides in this question,” Gill said.

“Our objective here is to get everyone to calm down a bit, dial down the rhetoric and deliver on the objectives: to take every possible step we can to put pressure on Russia to end its war of aggression, to deliver on the loan for Ukraine (and) to ensure that our member states have energy security,” he added.

“The Commission will continue to work calmly and coherently with all sides to ensure that those objectives are met.”

Asked about Zelenskyy’s suggestion that Ukrainian soldiers be given Orbán’s address, the spokesperson made his displeasure clear — one of the few times Brussels has openly rebuked the Ukrainian leader.

“We are very clear, as the European Commission, that that type of language is not acceptable. There must not be threats against EU member states,” Gill said.

As part of the diplomatic efforts to solve the dispute, the Commission is examining “possible financial support” to speed up the repairs of Druzhba, Gill added, without providing further details.

Von der Leyen’s outreach

The status of the pipeline has become a hot topic of contention since a Russian drone attack was reported on 27 January.

Hungary and Slovakia, which are entitled to receive Russian crude thanks to an indefinite sanctions derogation, insist they have intelligence to demonstrate that Druzhba is operational and is being shut because of “political reasons”.

Ukraine says the opposite: that its evidence proves that Druzhba remains damaged and cannot resume deliveries. Zelenskyy has said the repair might take up to one and a half months to be finished, while warning that conditions on the ground are dangerous.

“There are certain things and principles that are priceless and simply cannot be compromised,” he said on Thursday in a briefing with journalists.

“They (Russians) are killing us, and we have to give oil to Orbán because, poor thing, he cannot win the elections without this oil. So that’s my position.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has personally asked Zelenskyy to accelerate the repair works. Earlier this week, von der Leyen called Zelenskyy and asked him to be constructive and cooperative to find a solution that is viable for all parties, according to people familiar with the conversation.

European Council President António Costa is also involved in the outreach to ease tensions between Orbán and Zelenskyy and ensure the delicate agreement reached by the 27 leaders in December comes to fruition.

However, the dramatic escalation of threats between Kyiv and Budapest has derailed attempts at conciliation. Privately, officials in Brussels admit that Zelenskyy made a mistake with his veiled remarks about Orbán’s address, which the Hungarian premier is now exploiting in his re-election campaign.

The fact that Orbán is trailing in opinion polls ahead of the 12 April contest is further complicating diplomacy. Officials worry that the longer the row drags on and the closer it gets to 12 April, the harder it will be to untangle.

Initially, Brussels had operated under the assumption that Kyiv would need a fresh injection of money in early April, but the timeline could now slip.

Von der Leyen said last week she had “options” to unblock the €90 billion loan, but her executive has yet to spell out what those options might look like.

Meanwhile, the Commission chief has received an invitation to meet with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. A date is being considered.

This article has been updated for clarity.