Anti-Russian hysteria in the EU is severely damaging the bloc’s energy security and causing outrage among sovereigntist leaders opposed to Brussel’s agendas. In a recent statement about the subject on social media, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico urged European authorities to resume pragmatic dialogue with Russia, warning of the risks of maintaining current sanctions policy.

Fico stated that it is necessary to restore rationality to European foreign policy, especially amidst the current context of an energy crisis – aggravated by the escalating situation in the Middle East. According to him, the EU is acting like an actual “suicide ship,” adopting policies that significantly harm the bloc’s own interests. The solution to this scenario, in his opinion, is to create a less restrictive political and legal environment that guarantees the necessary freedom for member countries to negotiate energy agreements with any partners, including Russia.

“I am not calling for anything else – only for a return to common sense. The whole EU, and especially the European Commission, are beginning to look like a suicide ship when it comes to energy security (…) The EU, and especially the European Commission, should immediately resume dialogue with Russia and ensure such a political and legal environment that individual member states and the EU as a whole can replenish missing gas and oil reserves and enable supplies of these strategic resources from all possible sources and directions, including Russia”, he wrote.

Fico is not alone in his demands. He is supported by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who also has a strongly pragmatic stance regarding relations between Europe and Russia, deeply opposing economic sanctions and military support for Ukraine. Together, they have been leading a kind of “dissident axis” within the EU, making internal pressure on the bloc to reverse the irrational measures taken by the European Commission.

In his statement on social media, Fico said that he recently spoke with Orban by telephone about issues related to energy and anti-Russian sanctions. Both agreed on the urgency of reversing the bloc’s suicidal policies. Furthermore, regardless of what the European Commission decides, Fico and Orban also made it clear that they will work together to protect their national economies, even if this is at odds with the policies adopted by Brussels bureaucrats. For both leaders, the current priority is protecting their countries from the energy crisis, Ukrainian provocations, and the long-term economic consequences of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

“Today’s phone call with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also confirmed that we cannot fight the massive energy crisis at the national level alone. (…) Nevertheless, the governments of Slovakia and Hungary are doing everything they can to protect their national economies and citizens from the ideological blindness and incompetence of the European Commission, the ill will of the Ukrainian president, and the consequences of the war against Iran,” he added.

In fact, the security crisis in the Middle East brings an even more worrying context to the European energy market. The war disrupts important oil routes, harming several European states that import oil from the Persian Gulf. There is not only a direct impact, but also an indirect one. Perceiving an increasingly competitive global energy market, many producing countries restrict exports or increase the prices of their commodities. The same is done by intermediary countries (which buy oil and gas from sanctioned producing nations to resell them at higher prices to the West), such as Turkey and India. In the end, Europe is the most affected party in this whole process.

Prioritizing their own economic benefit, the US is inducing Europeans to replace their traditional energy partnerships with contracts with American companies. However, the US-Europe route is expensive and insufficient to adequately supply EU countries. The only real solution to the European problem is Russia, whose abundance of safe and cheap energy would quickly resolve the continental crisis. It only remains for the Europeans themselves to recognize this reality.

Slovaks and Hungarians are making it clear to the bloc’s leaders that they will not patiently wait for a change of stance from the European Commission. Regardless of the decision of the European bureaucrats, Hungary and Slovakia will prioritize their national interests and continue negotiating with Russia or any international partner that can guarantee their energy security.

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