Orbán: Extraordinary situation requires extraordinary measures

An extraordinary situation justifies extraordinary measures, and the European Union must also understand this, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday in connection with a demand by the European Commission that Hungary suspend “discriminatory fuel prices” against cars with foreign number plates.

Orbán said in an interview to public broadcaster Kossuth Radio that he was asking the EU to acknowledge that there is an emergency, and that

extraordinary measures may be needed in countries closer to the war zone such as “differentiating between number plates and vehicles based on nationality”.

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Whereas the whole concept of the EU is based on uniformity in some areas and not differentiating on a national basis – and this was “right in peacetime” – it was also true that “Brussels is farther away from the Ukrainian border than Hungary” and inflation was higher in those parts of Europe that are geographically closer to Ukraine, he said.

“The current circumstances are extraordinary,” Orbán said.

“An extraordinary situation requires an extraordinary response, and in such cases there is freedom and, I think, an obligation to deviate from the general rules … otherwise we wouldn’t be able to protect the interests of Hungarians.”

Without the cap on fuel prices at the pump, prices would rise to 700-900 forints (EUR 1.8-2.3) per litre with a knock-on effect on the price of other products, he said.

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Source: MTI