EU leaders met on Monday night to try and convince Mr Orban to drop his veto. The summit was held after nearly a month of intense diplomacy to try and break the impasse.
In the end, Brussels was able to claim a victory of sorts, even if the EU has reverted to type in being slow in imposing sanctions. About 90 per cent of Russian oil imports into the EU will be hit by the end of the year.
Mr Orban, fresh from his landslide election triumph, was also able to claim another win.
Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline will be exempt from the embargo for Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The 90 per cent ban was only possible because Poland and Germany promised to stop deliveries from the northern leg of the pipeline by the end of the year.
A partial embargo is better than no embargo at all.