Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said on Monday that Hungary and Slovakia have jointly initiated a consultation procedure at the European Union against Ukraine in connection with the country’s move to partially halt crude oil supplies.
Minister Szijjártó told a press conference after an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels that Ukraine’s decision to stop Russian oil company Lukoil’s crude oil transits had severely endangered energy supplies for Hungary and Slovakia. He said Lukoil provided one-third of Hungary’s and 45% of Slovakia’s crude oil imports. “As a result, we have been in continual consultations with the Slovak government in order to resolve the situation,” Minister Szijjártó said. “Yesterday I also talked to the Ukrainian foreign minister by phone and he said there were naturally no problems and all transits were allowed through Ukraine, but this is obviously not true.” “Today jointly with Slovakia we initiated at the European Commission the launch of consultations that precede proceedings in a chosen court,” he said. “It is an urgent matter because the security of energy supplies is an acute issue, and the EC therefore has three days to carry out the consultations with Ukraine, and failing that, the chosen court will start dispute settlement proceedings,” he added.