Hungary will seek legal means to prevent the adoption of the European Commission's plan to suspend energy supplies from Russia to EU countries in the coming years. This was stated at a briefing by the head of the cabinet of the Hungarian Prime Minister Gergely Gulyas.
“We are looking for legal options that will prevent the adoption of this proposal by the European Commission“, he said, adding that the Hungarian government considered the initiative from Brussels at its meeting on Wednesday and found it dangerous.
Gulyas noted that this plan is essentially “hidden sanctions“ against Russia, and not a trade measure, as the European Commission claims. Budapest believes that Brussels' proposals violate the 2022 EU agreements, which give all members of the community the right to independently choose energy sources and suppliers.
At the same time, answering questions from journalists, the head of the Prime Minister's Office clearly stated that Hungary does not intend to link the request to abandon the European Commission's plan with the issue of adopting the 17th package of EU sanctions against Russia, which is currently being prepared in Brussels. “Hungary is not used to linking different issues in the EU that are not directly related to each other“, said Gulyas.
“This proposal alone has a weak legal basis“, he stressed, recalling that the European Commission had previously tried to force EU countries to refuse supplies of oil, gas and nuclear fuel from the Russian Federation.
The head of the Chancellery noted that this initiative puts Hungary's energy security at risk and could have an extremely negative impact on the well-being of the country's citizens. “The European Commission's plan will increase Hungary's energy costs by 1.5-2 billion euros per year. Because of this, the state will be forced to reduce subsidies for housing and communal services, and as a result, citizens will have to pay for it 2.5 times more than now“, explained Gulyas.
He also said that Hungary is seeking to diversify its sources and routes for energy supplies, but “this does not mean that by freeing itself from dependence on one supplier it should become dependent on another.“
The head of the Chancellery assured that the government would do everything possible to prevent such a development of events. Hungary “has allies in the EU“, he said. on this issue, with whom it will coordinate its efforts. Slovakia had previously spoken out against the European Commission's plan to abandon Russian energy sources.
Hungary still receives most of its gas from Russia through the “Turkish Stream“ gas pipeline and its branches through Bulgaria and Serbia, and oil – through the southern branch of the “Družba“ gas pipeline. On March 26, the Russian government announced that in 2024, Russia had supplied a record 8.6 billion cubic meters of gas to Hungary, while oil supplies reached 4.78 million tons.