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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has pushed back against accusations that Germany is “the new Hungary” after the country blocked the latest round of EU sanctions against Russia.
The EU has been negotiating a sanctions package that would ban EU countries from re-exporting Russian liquefied natural gas through European terminals, but Berlin opposed the package, EU diplomats told POLITICO.
In an interview with Axel Springer media outlets on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy, Scholz said the package is “not blocked” and that countries are “discussing the details.”
“It’s about how we can make sure that the German economy can carry out its activities and at the same time make sure that goods that are delivered somewhere in South America, in an Asian country or in Africa, don’t end up in Russia in a roundabout way, where they shouldn’t be,” Scholz said. “And this has to be done in a way that companies can deal with,” he added.
“And I think that will happen soon. It’s a practical question, not a fundamental one,” Scholz said.
The German leader also hit back at comparisons between Hungary’s opposition and Germany’s, referring to Budapest’s habit of blocking earlier packages of sanctions.
“Yes, that’s a great line, but it’s complete nonsense,” Scholz said, referring to the “new Hungary” tag. “We want to find a solution,” he said.
Germany is “doing its job,” he added, which is to “make sure that there is a solution that works for the economy, that you can manage if you are a company, if you want to sell things to the world, goods and services, and that at the same time fulfills exactly the purpose that we are concerned with.”
