"I am still confident in our ability to resolve the issue before the European Council" scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Brussels, said the EU leader during a visit to Stockholm.

"It requires a lot of dialogue, a lot of cultural effort. And we are working very hard to be able to stay united (...) but also to take decisions to break the Russian war machine," he said. during a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

Germany and France - which holds the rotating European presidency - assured on Tuesday that the blockage in Budapest could still be overcome in the coming days, contradicting Prime Minister Viktor Orban, judging him an agreement "very unlikely".

"I am realistic, I know that there are difficulties," said Charles Michel on Wednesday, while saying "to do his best" to be able to "propose possible solutions" for the extraordinary meeting of the 27 in Brussels.

In a letter sent Monday to the President of the European Council, Viktor Orban said that his country was "not in a position to accept" the sixth package of sanctions against Russia "until the negotiations have resulted in resolving all outstanding issues".

A landlocked country, without access to the sea, Hungary depends on the oil sent from Russia by the Druzhba pipeline and fears the increase in its oil bill in the event of an embargo of the 27.

Budapest deems the proposal for a two-year derogation to implement the oil embargo offered to it with Slovakia and the Czech Republic insufficient.

Hungary has requested at least four years and nearly 800 million euros in European funding to adapt its refineries and increase the capacity of the Adria pipeline which comes from Croatia.

© 2022 AFP