Three days after the Hungarian elections, which are to be held on April 12, legislation will be presented in Brussels that would ban the import of Russian oil on the European market. According to the MTI agency, the head of Hungarian diplomacy, Péter Szijjártó, drew attention to this on Tuesday. He added that the current Hungarian government, in case of victory in the elections, will continue to fight for the protection of low energy prices, informs the correspondent of TASR in Budapest.
- Three days after the Hungarian elections, Brussels is to propose a ban on Russian oil.
- The Hungarian government conditions the maintenance of low energy prices on the continued import of Russian oil.
- Closing the Strait of Hormuz could cut around a fifth of world oil consumption.
- Europe is simultaneously cut off from both Russian and Arab oil due to decisions.
- Hungary claims that without cheap Russian oil, its energy supplies will be more expensive.
The Minister warned at the annual conference of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK) that a major struggle is expected in the field of energy supply and the key question is how Hungary will deal with it, which will be decided in the parliamentary elections on April 12.
He pointed out that the situation in the Middle East today carries the risk of the most dramatic oil supply crisis in history, while the closure of the Strait of Hormuz will affect approximately twenty percent of total world consumption.
“And in addition, because of the political decisions made in Europe, we are now in a situation where Europe is closed to its two most important Eurasian oil sources. Europe closed itself to Russian oil by political decision and is closed to Arab oil because of the current security situation, because of the war there.” he said.
“The question is whether Europe will maintain this situation for ideological reasons, or whether it will itself open a source of oil, the opening of which it has influence on the basis of economic rationality. Because we have no influence on how the war in the Middle East will develop, but the European Union could decide to put Russian oil back on the European market,” underlined Szijjártó.
According to him, legislation is being prepared in Brussels that would completely ban Russian oil on the European market. It will happen “by some chance” only three days after the Hungarian elections, on April 15. The minister emphasized that the government is ready to fight in this matter as well. “For Hungary, cheap Russian oil is the basis for maintaining overhead cost reduction. The basis of the entire overhead cost reduction is that we buy energy carriers from Russia cheaper than others. Because currently there is no cheaper source available for Hungary than gas from Russia, and there is no cheaper source available than oil from Russia. This is a fact. And if they ban Hungary from buying cheap oil, it means that energy supplies to the country will be more expensive from now on. That is why we are ready to fight,” MTI quotes Szijjártó.
