Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungarian households would pay double the amount for electricity and more than triple for gas if "the Ukrainian energy threat" prevailed, adding: "We will prevent this from happening!"
In a video post on Facebook on Saturday, the prime minister said households would pay 14,000 forints (EUR 35) instead of 7,000 for electricity and 54,000 forints instead of 16,000 for gas, noting that he has convened an "extraordinary meeting" to discuss economic matters.
Noting that Brussels "wants to stop gas and oil deliveries from Russia", he said the EU preferred to help Ukrainians even at the cost of "destroying Hungarian and European families".
Hungary would be landed with a bill of 800 billion forints, he said, or "the same amount" as it costs the government to subsidise household utilities. Households would feel the effects from September without government intervention, he added.
PM Orbán said the government must prevent the EU from making such a ruinous decision. "This is possible only if you support it," he said, urging Hungarians to take part in Voks 2025, the vote on Ukraine's EU accession.