Hungary and Slovakia intend to join forces to oppose the European Commission's plan to stop EU countries from importing Russian gas by 2027.
This was stated by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjarto after a meeting of the heads of foreign ministries of EU member states in Warsaw.
He said he had consulted his Slovak counterpart Juraj Blanar, who "also expressed serious objections to this proposal" from Brussels. “Therefore, close coordination between the two countries is expected“, MTI quoted Szijjártó as saying.
The minister noted that the European Commission's plan to abandon Russian gas and nuclear fuel threatens Hungary's energy security. In addition, this initiative violates the sovereignty of EU countries, which have the right to independently choose sources and suppliers of energy resources. The Hungarian government estimates that the damage to the country's economy from the Brussels plan will amount to 1.5 billion euros per year.
Earlier, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico called the European Commission's plan “economic suicide”. He assured that he would actively work to revise the roadmap proposed by Brussels for abandoning energy supplies from Russia.