Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the government will use all means possible to thwart the Von der Leyen-Zelensky plan, the foreign minister said on Sunday, warning that the plan would "ruin" the economies of central Europe and deliver a blow to the European economy as a whole.
Ahead of a Monday meeting of European Union energy ministers that will discuss a ban on Russian energy, Minister Szijjártó told public radio that gas prices in Europe were double or triple those in the United States, while electricity prices were four or five times those in China. He blamed the "sky-high" prices on Brussels' "failed sanctions policies".
He added that the Ukrainians had tried to get the EU to sanction Russian energy deliveries, such as gas, crude and nuclear fuel, since the start of the war.
Minister Szijjártó said European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen had "caused extreme damage" to the European Union in recent years and was supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to an unprecedented degree. He added that an element of that support was making Hungarians pay more for Ukraine.
He called out energy ministers' "hypocrisy", saying that they "talked big" on the sidelines of meetings before "returning to the mainstream position" in the meeting room.
The Slovaks may be the exception, he said, adding that he had spoken with his Slovak counterpart a number of times in the previous week.
"The Von der Leyen-Zelensky plan would cause serious challenges and risks not only to Hungary but also to Slovakia's energy supply," he said.
He added that Hungary and Slovakia would take a joint stand against the Von der Leyen-Zelensky plan at the meeting on Monday.
Minister Szijjártó said the "champions of democracy and the rule of law" in Brussels were now "blatantly violating" European regulations even after putting Hungarian regulations "under the microscope" for 15 years.
He said member states' energy mixes were a matter of national sovereignty and nobody, "neither Brussels nor Kyiv", could tell Hungary where, how and for how much to get its energy.
Disguising sanctions policies as trade measures is a "shameless violation" of European rules and shows "disregard for the will of member states", he said. He noted that trade policy measures could pass with majority support, while sanctions decisions needed unanimous support.
Minister Szijjártó said Hungary's energy supply was "technically impossible" without Russian deliveries. He added that energy supply was a "physical, not a political" matter.
He said pipeline infrastructure allowed Hungary access to diverse sources, including Russian energy, but he noted that Ukraine had shut off its pipelines to Hungary, while the Croatians had failed to upgrade the capacity of their own pipelines to allow sufficient transit deliveries to Hungary and had also raised their prices.
Minister Szijjártó warned of a "brutal" increase in prices if Hungary was cut off from its supply of Russian energy. The government is not willing to risk Hungary's energy supply as it is committed to ensuring homes can be heated and factories can continue to operate, he added.
Minister Szijjártó said he expected a "savage fight" at the meeting of energy ministers on Monday.