Finance Minister Mihály Varga said in Brussels on Tuesday that uncertain energy supplies, high energy prices and inflation are currently the greatest threats to European economies, and so filling up natural gas reserves will be key in the coming months. Speaking to Hungarian journalists after a meeting of EU finance ministers, Minister Varga said energy security would become even more important with the onset of autumn and winter. Hungarian reserves now stand at 36 percent, he said, adding that the government had placed orders for further purchases. Concerning Europe becoming independent of Russian energy, Varga said “it won’t happen overnight … however the economies will have to keep running”.
On another subject, Minister Varga said Hungary fully supported the Czech EU presidency’s goal to guarantee energy security for the whole of Europe. The Hungarian government also supports efforts to increase Europe’s defence capabilities and protection of the EU’s cyberspace, he added. Varga said an EU debate on the financing needs of post-war reconstruction in Ukraine was premature, but added that the Hungarian government was ready to help “should that country at war need further financial assistance”. Answering a question on the global minimum tax, Varga said the government would try and convince its partners that “amid a wartime crisis implementing tax hikes seriously impacting competitiveness and the labour market is not good”. Varga said he hoped that the EU and the Hungarian government were “in the last phase” of talks concerning economic recovery funds to Hungary, and that those talks would be concluded in the autumn. This, he said, is “equally important for Hungary and the European Union”.
Photo credit: Facebook/Varga Mihály