BUDAPEST, January 21. /TASS/. Hungary and Slovakia will file a joint lawsuit to the Court of Justice of the European Union, challenging the EU leadership’s plans to completely ban oil and gas supplies from Russia, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
He told the M5 television channel in an interview that Hungary and Slovakia have already drafted legal rationale behind their motion to reverse the Europan Commission’s plan "making purchases of Russian natural gas impossible beginning from October 2027."
"We will demand to immediately examine the case and suspend this decision," Szijjarto said.
Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country would "use all available legal mechanisms" to prevent the ban from coming into force.
On October 20, 2025, the EU Council approved a phased ban on all purchases of Russian gas, effective January 1, 2028. The decision applies to both pipeline and liquefied natural gas. The European Commission’s plan also includes a ban on Russian oil supplies, effective 2028. A ban on nuclear fuel is under discussion. The Hungarian government has expressed its intention to seek exemptions from those rules. However, no proposals on the matter have yet been received from EU leaders.
The Hungarian government repeatedly stated that it cannot yet manage without Russian energy supplies, but continues to diversify its supply routes and sources. It stressed, however, that diversification does not mean abandoning cooperation with old, proven partners. Budapest does not support the European Commission's plan to fully abandon energy supplies from Russia by the end of 2027. Hungary still receives most of its oil from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline, and gas via the TurkStream pipeline and its branches through Bulgaria and Serbia.