Meeting of EU energy ministers – The decline in energy supply in Western Europe is also having an impact in Hungary
The fallout of the war in Ukraine and related sanctions has resulted in a vicious circle of skyrocketing energy prices and curbed supply, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said at a meeting of EU energy ministers in Luxembourg on Monday.
“Even the ‘strong countries’ of western Europe have declared national emergencies due to energy insecurity,” he said.
The European Commission should investigate Russia’s claim that the reduction in volume was because equipment needed to operate the pipeline system had not be returned from Canada due to sanctions, he said.
The falloff in energy supplies to western Europe has been felt in Hungary, too, though not nearly as much as elsewhere, he said.
Szijjarto noted that he had turned to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister for energy, who both cited technical problems for the supply crunch.
He said the Hungarian government’s point that energy supply was a physical rather than an ideological or political issue had been vindicated.
Weening the country off Russian gas “is not easy”, he said, adding that Hungary would not back a gas embargo under any circumstances.
Russia supplies 8.5 billion cubic meters of Hungary’s 10 billion cubic meters of annual consumption. Ensuring secure and predictable supplies from other sources in the short to medium term would be impossible, the minister added.
On the subject of joint procurement platforms, Szijjarto said Hungary supported diversification, but participation should be entirely voluntary.
Meanwhile, he noted that Hungarian natural gas storage facilities are 39 percent full at 2.7 billion cubic meters, and this amount is roughly three-quarters of the quantity that EU regulations prescribe for Hungary. The latter accounts for 35 percent of annual consumption, or 3.6 billion cubic meters.
Answering a question, Szijjártó said Hungary had emergency contingencies, regardless of the current situation, but the country’s energy supply was secure for the time being.
