Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Ukraine has threatened the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia by making Russian Lukoil’s crude oil transit impossible and the European Commission has not taken any action.
Minister Szijjártó told a press conference after a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels that his Ukrainian counterpart had also attended the consultations and talked much about the Russian attacks against his country’s energy grid. “Hungary’s position is clear,” he said. “A country’s energy supply is a matter of national security. As a result, when a country threatens the security of another country’s energy supplies, then it also threatens that country’s national security interests.” “And this is exactly what has happened in respect of Ukraine and Hungary. By making around a third of Hungarian oil imports from Russia practically impossible by legal means, Ukraine is undermining the security of Hungary’s energy supplies or at least subjects it to serious challenges,” he said. He added that the same applied also in connection with Slovakia where Ukraine had blocked around 40-45% of Russian oil imports. “And I must say that the European Commission has shown its true colours, because either the European Union is so weak that it cannot protect two member states’ energy security against a non-member country, or it has created the whole situation itself and Kyiv had actually been instructed by Brussels to introduce measures that limit energy security for Hungary and Slovakia,” he said. Whichever happens to be the case, “it is disappointing that the European Union is either so weak or it is trying to hide so boldly behind Kyiv to force Hungary and Slovakia to change their pro-peace position,” he said. Szijjártó said that together with his Slovak counterpart they had expressed their disappointment in connection with the EC’s handling of the issue and noted that both countries were making considerable contributions to the security of Ukraine’s supplies. “Some 42% of Ukraine’s electricity imports currently arrive in Ukraine through Hungary and Hungarian state companies have made significant investments in order to enable synchronised cooperation between European and Ukrainian systems,” he added. “Without these measures, Ukraine’s electricity supplies would not be secured… And despite this we had to face Ukraine playing with the security of energy supplies for Hungary and for Slovakia,” he said. Szijjártó said there were continual talks with Russian suppliers and the Ukrainian system operator about finding a legal solution to guarantee long-term supplies. “But let me tell you again, it should not be us having to deal with this task but either the Ukrainians should restore the original situation or the European Union should take action in this matter,” he added. With the help of different types of temporary measures, supplies could be successfully secured in the short term and medium term, but in the case of energy only a long-term solution was acceptable, he said. “As a result, we will certainly continue the talks and hope that agreements can be signed soon that will enable the long-term security of energy supplies,” he added.