Hungary PM: Europe 'shot itself in foot' with Russia sanctions
The European Union has harmed itself economically with the sanctions it has imposed on Russia over Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, calling for a rethink.
Orban's remarks came a day after his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, criticised the sanctions as "meaningless", saying they would threaten economic growth in the 28-member bloc.
"The sanctions policy pursued by the West, that is, ourselves, a necessary consequence of which has been what the Russians are doing, causes more harm to us than to Russia," Orban said in a radio interview. "In politics, this is called shooting oneself in the foot."
Export-driven Hungary is heavily reliant on energy imports from its former Communist overlord and early this year Budapest agreed with Russian power firm Rosatom to expand Hungary's only nuclear plant in a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) deal.
