Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said in Budapest on Wednesday that the Hungarian government will continue to fight against the "plan of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which would put Hungary's energy security at serious risk and multiply the cost of utility bills."
Speaking on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting, Minister Szijjártó said the government assessed the events of the European Union summits last week and discussed the proposal on banning the procurement of cheap Russian oil and gas, "which would put central European countries, Hungary among them, into an extremely difficult situation".
"It is clear that this plan was hatched in Brussels ... as a result of Ukrainian lobbying. It is also clear that Brussels and Kyiv are clear-eyed about the security risk to supplies and the dramatic utility price increases that a forced Zelensky plan would cause in Hungary," he said, according to a ministry statement.
As a result of the "plan", Hungary would only receive crude oil through one pipeline, and it would be cut off from 26 billion cubic meters of gas in total, he said.
"They are talking about sovereignty, new resources, competitiveness and supply security while at the same time gravely violating our homeland's sovereignty..." he said.
"At the cabinet meeting, we made it clear that Hungary will continue to fight against the Zelensky plan. The government will continue to take a stand to stop Brussels from undermining ... Hungary's energy security, and will protect the lowest utility prices in Europe," he said.
"We will not allow Brussels to double Hungarian families' utility costs at the behest and lobbying of President Zelensky. It will be a tough battle; it will be tabled at the next meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, too. We will fight this fight and protect Hungarian people, families and the Hungarian economy," Minister Szijjártó said.