Hungary’s energy supplies are safe as Europe and Hungary are facing challenges due to the war in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday, on the sidelines of the second day of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
The Hungarian government has an obligation to guarantee the security of Hungarians, including energy security, he said. Therefore, the government will oppose all sanctions against Russia that would hinder the delivery of crude oil and natural gas to Hungary, he said.
Nuclear energy is another key element of energy security,
Szijjártó said. The nuclear power plant at Paks produces 49.6 percent of electricity in Hungary and covers over one-third of the country’s electricity needs, he said.
Hungary has managed to obtain all permissions to obtain fuel rods for the plant in an alternative route through air cargo via Belarus, Poland and Slovakia, to replace the original deliveries by rail from Russia via Ukraine which has become “impossible”, he said.
The first delivery of fuel rods arrived on the new route on Wednesday,
he said.
The European Union is in talks on another set of sanctions against Russia, he said. The Hungarian government sees sanctions impacting nuclear energy supplies as “a red line”, he said. Szijjártó noted the importance of energy independence. The Paks plant is for Hungary a guarantee “to be less vulnerable to world market developments”, he said.
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Source: MTI
