American ExxonMobil Hungary’s new Budapest office inaugurated today

Hungary will not make “any concessions” when it comes to the country’s energy security, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Tuesday.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of ExxonMobil Hungary’s new Budapest offices, Péter Szijjártó said it was too soon to say whether rising energy prices could be curbed in the short to medium term.

The whole of Europe, he noted, saw a doubling of vehicle fuel prices and gas prices “increasing four or five-fold” due to the war in Ukraine and Russian sanctions. But Hungarians “must not be made to pay the price of the war,” a foreign ministry statement quoted the minister as saying.

The government is trying to ensure that the country is as independent as possible from the uncertainties of global energy markets and its “extreme price swings”, Szijjártó said, mentioning the project to upgraded the Paks nuclear plant and the long-term gas purchase agreements signed with partners “from the East and West alike” as examples.