Hungary stands firm on Russian energy: FM Szijjártó defends sovereignty amid EU criticism

The state will only relinquish a reliable and competitively priced energy source if a better deal is on offer, and so far none is available to replace Russian energy, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Thursday.

Hungary insists that the composition of its energy mix should remain an exclusive national competence, the ministry quoted Péter Szijjártó as saying at a press conference after a European Union council meeting on trade affairs in Brussels.

“So we reject any attempt to influence how, from where and from whom we buy energy,” he said.

Sergey Lavrov and Péter Szijjártó. Source: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter

“It is a matter of national security and sovereignty. The security of energy supplies is a part of national security, and we will not accept any interference in discussions of energy security issues,” he added.

Szijjártó expressed satisfaction with energy cooperation with Russia. “I can only talk about my own experiences rather than others’, and I also expect others not to talk about mine.”

“Our experience is that Russia is a reliable supplier. We have always received the contracted volume, we have always received it at the agreed price and at the agreed time,” he added.

“Some of those who proudly beat their chest about how they are phasing out Russian energy still buy the energy in a roundabout way,” Szijjártó said.

He said sanctions policy was marked by “great hypocrisy”. “We are constantly getting a pounding here in Brussels for not disconnecting ourselves from Russian energy… But if you look at how Russian LNG supplies have been increasing, then you can see that, for instance, France has increased its Russian LNG imports by 110 percent in six months. Some 87 percent of Russian LNG arriving in Western Europe goes to France, Belgium and Spain,” he added.

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