The European Union is set to hand Hungary an exemption in its latest package of sanctions on Russia to permit imports of goods and services needed to maintain the Budapest metro.
(Bloomberg) — The European Union is set to hand Hungary an exemption in its latest package of sanctions on Russia to permit imports of goods and services needed to maintain the Budapest metro.
The sanctions, which were backed by member states on Wednesday, include derogations for several parts including safety glass, specific types of machinery and some valves, as well as related technical assistance, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.
The parts are needed to operate cars running on Budapest’s metro line 3, one of the documents shows. The metro cars are maintained by Russian firm Metrowagonmash OJSC, which builds and services subway trains. Metrowagonmash had refurbished the line’s ageing rolling stock in 2017 but earlier this year a quarter of them were reported to be out of service due to quality issues.
The Russian company was sanctioned by the US earlier this year.
Other exempted goods include telephone sets, signaling apparatus such as bells and indicator panels, as well as subway and tramway coaches. In total, goods falling under some 14 tariff codes can be authorized for import or transfers to Hungary.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been a vocal critic of EU sanctions against Russia and has maintained close economic links with Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, he has eventually backed all of the bloc’s restrictions on trade with Russia, while regularly extracting concessions, including the right to continue buying Russian oil via Ukraine.
Hungary was among the last member states to offer its support for the latest package, its 11th, which includes a ban on many goods transiting through Russia to third countries, and new tools and provisions to crack down on sanctions circumvention.
The package still needs to be formally signed off by European capitals before the measures come into force.
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