Access to Russian gas and crude oil is a fundamental Hungarian interest, and it is the Government’s duty to secure a long-term solution, Dóra Dúró, deputy president of the right-radical Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) Movement, wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Mi Hazánk rejects one-sided foreign policy, she said, adding that the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which recently won elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, is campaigning for a return to Russian gas as an antidote to economic contraction, according to MTI.
The party is advancing this agenda with growing electoral support. Given that Germany is the EU’s economic and political heavyweight, an AfD rise to power could reshape the entire Union’s Russia policy, the politician argued.
Mi Hazánk tries to portray itself as the only alternative for voters not supporting the Tisza Party and PM Magyar and would like to win as many Fidesz voters as possible after the landslide defeat of Orbán in April, who is now struggling hard to keep his party in life.
Russian gas: the most cost-effective option
István Kapitány, Minister for Economy and Energy, said in an interview with Telex last Friday that Hungary’s gas supply can be secured even without Russian imports. He stressed that the country has options to procure gas from several directions and that there will be no problem meeting demand.
Responding to the EU decision banning Russian gas imports from 1 October 2027, the Minister noted that Hungary’s high exposure to Russian supplies stems not from an inability to source gas elsewhere, but from the fact that it was simply the most cost-effective option.
He acknowledged that diversification could have been pursued more aggressively, but said the previous Government had chosen to base imports on Russian gas.
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