According to Bruegel’s findings, Hungary has spent only 1.1 percent of its GDP, or EUR 2.7 billion, on utility-cost support for citizens since September 2021. The data in the study indicates that Slovakia spent the most on keeping utility bills low for its citizens, accounting for 9.3 percent of its GDP, while Hungary spent less than other European countries.
Even at first read, that can’t be right.
Leftist media quickly pounced on the story, writing about how Hungary scored at the bottom of the EU’s energy subsidy rankings.
As it turns out, following a rigorous examination of Bruegel’s report, for so-called "methodological reasons," the institute's dataset did not include the Hungarian utility cost reduction program, saying that “since the reduction in utility costs is not a temporary measure, it is not included in the Hungarian data.”
Is it only me, or did these guys in Brussels manage to come up with the only way to address utility bill support in Europe that paints a bad picture of Hungary? It’s simple logic: Hungary didn’t need to introduce new temporary measures because we already had in place one of Europe’s most generous utility cost reduction programs for almost a decade now.
Hungary’s utility cost cuts should absolutely be considered a subsidy, and the exclusion of this factor has led to a serious error in the report.
Looking at the revised data, Hungary's efforts to help families amidst the energy crisis are commendable despite Brussels’ misguided sanctions policy holding back our efforts over and over again.
If the reduction in utility prices is taken into account, as it should be, Hungary actually spent almost 6 percent of its GDP on utility-cost subsidies, propelling the country to 4th place on the European leaderboard.
Just like on countless occasions in the past, this situation highlights the political left’s unending attempts to undermine the efforts of the Hungarian government by spreading fake news and false information about our policies.
And this must stop.