Hungary FM Sharply Protests Brussels' Plan

Europe should return to rationality in energy policy as soon as possible instead of pursuing political and ideological approaches, as the current strategy is highly detrimental to the continent, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (Source: Peter Szijjarto's Facebook page)

According to a statement from Hungary's foreign ministry, FM Peter Szijjarto, who spoke during a panel discussion at the International Economic Forum, first described it as problematic that the European Union currently treats energy supply not as a physical issue but as a political-ideological one. He then strongly opposed the plan to ban the import of Russian energy resources.

Peter Szijjarto spoke out against Brussels' plan (Photo: AFP)

FM Szijjarto spoke out against Brussels' plans

Mr. Szijjarto emphasized that while the new proposal developed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is based on the idea that phasing out cheap and reliable Russian oil and gas would strengthen the sovereignty and competitiveness of member states and free them from import dependency, in reality the exact opposite is true. He stressed that since designing a national energy mix is an exclusive competency of EU member states, the plan seriously violates sovereignty. Under its terms, Brussels or Kyiv would dictate to Hungary whom it may and may not enter into contracts with. Furthermore, he added, the proposal would lead to severe dependency, as one of the country’s two oil pipelines would be shut down, leaving only the one coming through Croatia operational.

What kind of independence are we talking about if one of our sources is cut off? That would mean serious dependency,

– he warned. Mr. Szijjarto went on to praise the reliability of Russian energy deliveries, recalling that up until now, everything had proceeded as agreed. In this context, he posed the question of why the Hungarian government should abandon such a dependable source—especially when doing so would result in approximately two billion euros in additional annual energy import costs for Hungary, potentially doubling or even tripling household utility expenses.

This proposal only makes sense to Brussels, because they want to support Ukraine at the expense of Hungarian families. Well, we will never allow that,

– he declared. He also spoke out against hypocrisy, pointing out that every Western European country purchases Russian liquefied natural gas through intermediaries, even as the Hungarian government is attacked for doing the same. The minister reiterated that politicizing energy supply is extremely harmful, and Europe’s competitiveness is paying the price, given that gas now costs several times more on the continent than in the U.S. or China.

If we keep going like this, we’ll definitely lose our competitiveness. (…) Europe’s economic growth used to have a very stable foundation. What was that? A combination of advanced Western technologies and cheap, easily accessible Russian energy. That’s how we built our economic growth. And now we’ve been cut off from Russian sources. Is there a replacement? There isn’t,

– FM Szijjarto said. He concluded by stressing the importance of returning as soon as possible to an approach based on rationality and common sense. From this standpoint, he found some hope in the fact that such thinking still exists in the world of business. As an example, he cited the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant, which is being carried out by the Russian company Rosatom in cooperation with Western subcontractors.

Cover photo: Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (Source: Peter Szijjarto's Facebook page)