Justice Minister Judit Varga said the government gives priority to protecting the safe energy supply of Hungarian households and will represent its position clearly at the two-day European Union summit on energy issues starting on Thursday. Minister Varga told the press on Tuesday after a meeting of ministers in charge of EU affairs that the only solution to Europe’s current energy dependence problem is to diversify energy acquisition.
The minister said energy dependence on the east must not be replaced by energy dependence on any other direction. Dependence should be replaced by independence and the only way forward is diversification, she said, adding that energy should not come from any single source, continent or country. Commenting on the issues covered at the meeting, she stressed the need for constitutional dialogue in connection with the rule-of-law procedure launched against Poland five years ago, insisting that double standards should be avoided. “In the current situation, we should rather focus on how to make the member states successful so that we should be strong together, instead of causing disadvantage in competition to one of Europe’s largest countries by holding back EU resources,” she said. Commenting on the Russia-Ukraine war, Varga said Hungary was urging a ceasefire and the start of peace talks, adding that Europe and all member states also had a vested interest in reducing tension.