EU urged to drop sanctions on import of Russian oil and gas

WARSAW: The European Union should end sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports, take steps to restore Druzhba oil pipeline flows and end the war in Ukraine to tackle the energy crisis stemming from the war in Iran, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday.

Fico said in a statement after a call with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that the EU should renew dialogue with Russia and ensure conditions so member states can get missing gas and oil supplies from all sources, including Russia.

Hungary and Slovakia’s leaders are outliers in the EU for maintaining relations with Moscow.

Oil prices have surged since US and Israeli strikes on Iran started on Feb 28, holding up shipments from the Gulf and creating, what the International Energy Agency called the biggest oil supply disruption in history. Central European nations have taken measures to cool the impact of high prices at the fuel pump for people and businesses.

The EU was importing just 1pc of its oil from Russia by the final quarter of 2025, having slashed imports since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Hungary and Slovakia were the only two EU countries still importing Russian oil by Jan 27, when Kyiv said a Russian drone strike hit pipeline equipment in Ukraine, disrupting Russian oil shipments.

Budapest and Bratislava have accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying the repairs to resume oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline, triggering a political dispute that has seen Hungary block an EU loan to Kyiv. Ukraine says it is fixing it as fast as it can.

In the statement on Saturday, Fico said it was not enough to deal with the energy crisis only at the national level.

Windfall tax

Meanwhile, five other European Union countries are calling for a windfall tax on energy companies’ profits in reaction to the rising fuel prices, according to a letter from finance ministers to the EU Commission on Saturday.

The bloc’s energy chief said on Tuesday it was considering reviving energy crisis measures used in 2022, including proposals to curb grid tariffs and taxes on electricity.

The finance ministers of Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Austria made the joint call for an EU-wide tax in a letter on Friday. Such a measure could help fund relief for consumers in the face of high energy prices and be a signal that “we stand united and are able to take action”, they said.

“It would make it possible to finance temporary relief, especially for consumers, and curb rising inflation, without placing additional burdens on public budgets,” the ministers wrote.

“It would also send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of the war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public,” they said.

Market distortions

In the letter, addressed to EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, the ministers pointed to a similar emergency tax in 2022 to address high energy prices. “Given the current market distortions and fiscal constraints, the European Commission should swiftly develop a similar EU-wide contribution instrument grounded on a solid legal basis,” they wrote.

The letter gave no details of what level of windfall tax the ministers were proposing, or on which companies it should fall.

The German Fuel and Energy Association, which represents refineries and petrol stations, said that the impression that companies were unjustifiably profiting was inaccurate and that there was no justification for a windfall tax. “Our primary goal is to maintain the supply of fuels and motor fuels in Germany under increasingly difficult conditions,” it said in an emailed statement.

The bloc’s energy chief said on Tuesday it was considering reviving energy crisis measures used in 2022, including proposals to curb grid tariffs and taxes on electricity.

The EU introduced a suite of emergency policies in 2022, after Russia cut gas deliveries. They included an EU-wide cap on gas pri­­­c­­es, a tax on energy companies’ windfall profits, and targets to curb gas demand.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2026

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