Banning Russian gas and oil imports would not help Ukraine, says Hungarian ruling parties

In an emergency the government needs to have the ability to act fast and effectively, that is why Hungary’s constitution needs to be amended, István Simicskó, group leader of the co-ruling Christian Democrats, has said referring to a bill before parliament.

Constitution amendment

In an interview published in daily Magyar Nemzet on Tuesday, Simicskó said a fast-changing world requires state agencies, services, and their coordination to respond to a new situation as fast as possible.

“There may be no days, weeks or months to consider before making a decision,”

he said.

“The government must be given the necessary room for manoeuvre to instruct state agencies and law-enforcement bodies and effectively ensure security in the country,”

he insisted, and mentioned, for example, the war in Ukraine and hundreds of thousands of refugees taking shelter in Hungary.

Banning Russian gas

Concerning the European Union’s sanctions against Russia, Simicskó said before taking such measures decision-makers should “carefully consider whom they would in fact harm”.

Banning Russian gas and oil imports would not help Ukraine, it could not force Russia to stop its military operations, while Europe will have to buy energy at significantly higher prices,

he said. “To put it simply, the EU will punish itself rather than Russia through this ill-advised embargo policy,” he insisted.

As we wrote earlier, a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on last Monday concluded without a decision being passed regarding a planned embargo of Russian oil, the Hungarian foreign minister said, details here.

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Source: MTI