Orbán: Poor citizens mustn’t be made to bear costs of climate action

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in a video posted on his Facebook page on Friday, declared his talks at the European Union summit in Brussels a success, saying that there was now a chance to ensure that poorer EU countries and citizens would not be made to bear the costs of fighting climate change.

“We succeeded because we’ve created a chance to ensure that future climate protection regulations will be such that it won’t be the poorer countries and people who will have to bear the costs of the fight against climate change,” the prime minister said after the summit.

Orbán called Hungary a “climate champion”, arguing that it was among the member states that have delivered the biggest reductions in CO2 emissions since 1990.

“We know how important the fight against climate change is, but we Hungarians also know that it comes at a price,” Orbán said. “And it’s a steep price because this is an expensive matter.”

The prime minister said Thursday’s talks were about “who will foot the bill” for climate action.

He said EU leaders had agreed that the bloc’s new climate action rules would not leave countries looking to catch up to the more prosperous member states with less money.

Orbán said there was now an opportunity to draft rules that encourage the use of nuclear energy. Furthermore, the bloc could also approve rules that will ensure that climate protection does not lead to increases in fuel and food prices, he added.

“We haven’t won, but we’ve given ourselves a chance for a future victory,” Orbán said.

Source: MTI