The idea was that the sanctions would bring us closer to the end of the war, but the past nine months have shown that this attempt was not met with success, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on the public radio's "Good Morning, Hungary" programme.

The European Union’s extending of the sanctions against Russia on gas and nuclear energy would entail disastrous consequences for Hungary, so we must gain exemption from such a decision, PM Orban said on Kossuth radio’s „Good morning, Hungary” programme on Friday.

At the beginning of the war, the idea was that the sanctions would put an end to the conflict or bring us closer to the end of the war, he recalled. What really happened, however, was that

these measures „didn’t take us one inch closer to a conclusion.”

We are facing a difficult winter, PM Orban emphasized. Ukraine is an increasingly difficult situation and although Russia is suffering hardships, its revenues from energy carriers are at a record high, so

the sanctions policy has failed in its purpose.

Hungary is exempt from the import ban on crude oil that will enter force on 5 December, we can obtain the oil necessary for the operation of the country, but we cannot remain immune to price-boosting effect of the sanctions, he noted.

Unfortunately, everything we feared is starting to unfold. The oil embargo coming into effect is already making it difficult for Hungary to ensure oil supplies, he said, adding that extending sanctions to gas or nuclear energy is out of the question.

He added that we have always achieved our national goals in the negotiations on the sanctions so far and we hope for a favourable outcome ahead of debate on the ninth package. However, the „pressure is constant”, and as new packages are expected to come, we must continue to fight to protect our interests. This is why we asked the Hungarian people to tell us their opinion on this issue in the government’s ‘national consultation’ survey.

Viktor Orban pointed out that Hungary does not support the European Union’s plan to finance the functioning of the Ukrainian state through joint borrowing; Hungary’s government maintains its position that the member states should support this goal through bilateral agreements.

We do not want the European Union to become a community or group of states with joint debts instead of a community of cooperating member states,

Hungary’s premier highlighted.

He said that Hungary does not generally support policies which the EU would finance through joint borrowing. He argued that the consequences of such a „debt community will be felt not only by our children but also by our grandchildren”, and that we will also have to pay the debts of the states which become insolvent along the way.

Ukraine is in a situation where it cannot run itself because of the war. „We accept the need for aid, but we are not happy about it. If there were no war, this expenditure would not be there either,” Mr Orban said.

Speaking about the global minimum tax, PM Orban said that it is a „job-killing tax increase”, and therefore the government will not agree to its introduction in Hungary.

Tens of thousands of jobs would be lost in Hungary if a global minimum tax were introduced, the premier stressed. „We cannot afford to do this,” he said, voicing his belief that taxes are not a global issue, but a national competence.

Every country should decide for itself what kind of tax system it wants to have in place, and voters like democracy because they can decide what governments with what kind of tax policy they vote to power, he said.

„If we were to give up this, we would also be giving up the right of the Hungarian people to determine an essential element of Hungarian economic policy, namely tax policy, so we do not see the global minimum tax as a good idea either from the aspect of jobs or democracy, and we will not agree to its introduction in Hungary,” the PM said.

Regarding illegal migration, PM Orban said that the situation is getting increasingly difficult, and the conditions at the southern border are deplorable. Life for the people living there is becoming unbearable, he stressed.

„We cannot protect this border area any better. It is almost impossible to manage the conflicts, so we have to push the borders further to the south. A road map and an action plan for the solution is available, the aim is to move the line of defence to the southern border of Serbia and, jointly defend our security under Serbia’s leadership. The good news is that there was a V4 meeting in Kosice, and as the other three V4 countries are also suffering from the migrant influx, they have offered to help implement the plan. There are talks to hash out the details, and although the war is at the centre of focus now, migration remains the greatest challenge on a historical scale, ” PM Orban concluded.