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The Czech Republic has said it will take longer to implement the European Union-proposed embargo on Russian energy, due to the “heavy economic cost”.
Mikulas Beck, Czech Minister for European Affairs, said in an interview with Radio Free Europe that the country could not immediately cut off Russian supplies as this would have an impact on industry.
According to him, such a situation would make it impossible to help Ukraine, as “the state would face a practical crisis in the economy.”
The Czech Republic, which receives about half of its crude oil from Russia, has said the European Commission’s latest proposal to cut off oil supplies is a step in the right direction, although Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on May 6 that talks are ongoing.
Beck said the Czech position on the oil embargo should not be interpreted as a sign that the state does not support Ukraine, as “we are ready to send weapons all the time.”
“We support the refugees and as long as oil is a concern, we need a European solution to the problem. We are looking for”.
The European Commission has proposed a new package of sanctions against Russia, the sixth since the start of the Russian occupation of Ukraine on February 24, which provides for the waiver of Russian oil by the end of the year.
Hungary and Slovakia immediately demanded that they be excluded from that deadline, while the Czechs also demanded a longer deadline. All three countries are heavily dependent on Russian crude oil.
According to some diplomatic sources, among the compromises for the package in Brussels are those that Hungary and Slovakia give up Russian oil by the end of 2024 and the Czech Republic in June of the same year.
Budapest have already said that such a deadline is not acceptable and negotiations are expected to continue over the weekend.
Beck said the capacity of the pipelines between Germany or Austria and the Czech Republic “is not enough” to replace Russian supplies. He said that “extending the deadline for two years would be enough.”
Although the ban on Russian gas is not being negotiated in the EU, there are concerns that Moscow may cut off supplies to more countries, having taken this decision for Bulgaria and Poland in recent days, on the grounds that they have not paid in rubles.
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