Hungary fights for Russian gas, challenges Brussels’ REPowerEU regulation

Hungary has challenged the Brussels REPowerEU regulation banning Russian energy imports in the European Court of Justice, but in order to pursue the case, the ruling parties must win the election, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday.

Background: Hungary’s Russian gas imports since the outbreak of the war

Since the outbreak of the Russia–Ukraine war in February 2022, Hungary’s natural gas imports from Russia have not declined in line with the broader European Union trend. While many EU member states sharply reduced their reliance on Russian gas following the invasion, Hungary has largely maintained — and in some periods increased — the volume of gas purchased from Russia.

Hungary entered the war period with a long-term supply contract signed in 2021 with Gazprom, covering approximately 4.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually. After 2022, deliveries continued primarily via the TurkStream pipeline route through Serbia, which became increasingly important as transit via Ukraine declined. In several post-war years, reported pipeline deliveries to Hungary exceeded the contracted minimum volume.

Available energy and trade data indicate that Russia has remained Hungary’s dominant gas supplier, accounting for roughly 80–95 per cent of total gas imports depending on the year and methodology used. In relative terms, Hungary’s dependence on Russian pipeline gas has therefore remained high, even as overall EU imports from Russia fell dramatically between 2022 and 2024.

In absolute terms, Hungary imported similar or higher volumes of Russian gas in the years following the invasion compared with the immediate pre-war period. This was partly due to continued long-term contractual obligations and partly because alternative supply routes — such as LNG or non-Russian pipeline sources — expanded more slowly in Hungary than in Western and Northern Europe.

The result is a clear divergence between Hungary and most EU countries: while the EU as a whole reduced Russian gas imports by more than half after 2022, Hungary effectively preserved its existing supply structure, prioritising price stability and physical security of supply. Although Budapest has announced diversification efforts with other suppliers, Russian gas has remained the backbone of Hungary’s energy system since the start of the war.

According to critics, the past four years should have been sufficient for Hungary to largely resolve its energy import issues by finding other sources, or at least to take serious steps in that direction, as neighboring countries have done. However, the government has used this time to repeat that there is no other option for Hungary than Russian gas, instead of implementing reforms and finding appropriate solutions.

REPowerEU rules

According to Anadolu, the EU formally adopted the REPowerEU rules on Jan. 26, which aim to gradually phase out imports of Russian pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and include monitoring obligations, supply diversification requirements, and penalties for non-compliance.

Under the new rules, imports of Russian gas will start to be restricted six weeks after the regulation enters into force, while existing contracts may continue during a transition period. A full ban on Russian LNG imports will apply from early 2027, and pipeline gas imports will be prohibited from autumn 2027.

EU member states will also be required to verify the origin of gas before allowing its entry and notify national authorities and the European Commission of any remaining contracts with Russia.

Non-compliance carries fines of at least €2.5 million ($3 million) for individuals and €40 million ($47.5 million) for companies, or up to 3.5% of global annual turnover.

“There are only more expensive and less reliable solutions”

According to a ministry statement, the minister said the decision prohibiting European Union member states from purchasing Russian crude oil and natural gas has now been officially published.

“I would like to make it clear that, from Hungary’s point of view, there are only more expensive and less reliable solutions.

Without Russian crude oil and natural gas, neither the security of the country’s energy supply can be guaranteed, nor is it possible to maintain the results of the utility price cuts,” he pointed out. “We will protect the Hungarian people, we will protect Hungarian families, and we will not allow Brussels to kill the utility price cuts.

We will continue to base Hungary’s energy security and the maintenance of utility price cuts on cheap Russian crude oil and natural gas,” he continued.“

He then announced that, to this end, the Hungarian government had filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Justice, requesting that the measure be annulled.

Péter Szijjártó explained that their petition refers to three important points. First, Brussels had no right to make such a decision, as the import of energy sources can only be prohibited by sanctions, which would require a unanimous decision. “It’s a joke that they adopted a measure disguised as trade policy,”

he said.

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The second argument is that the EU does not even have the power to take such a measure, as the basic treaty clearly states that each member state can decide for itself from whom and what energy sources to purchase.

“Thirdly, the European Union has a rule called the ‘principle of energy solidarity’. This basically means that the energy supply of EU countries must be secure. Obviously, this decision by Brussels violates this principle, at least in the case of Hungary,” he emphasized.

The minister believed that the lawsuit would probably last between one and two and a quarter years. “This lawsuit must therefore be pursued to the end. However, in order to do so, we must win the election, as it is clear that the other side is lined up with experts from the international energy world who have previously lobbied for us to stop buying cheap energy from Russia and instead buy it at a higher price from Western companies,” he said.

“So it is obvious that if the other side wins the election, this lawsuit will not go ahead, and then we will see a threefold increase in overhead costs. I suggest we don’t try this,” he concluded.

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