In a debate during the second round of the opposition primaries in October, Márki-Zay said he believed that cheap energy, including the utility cost reduction program, would lead to energy overconsumption.Continue reading
Hungary’s left-wing opposition has made it clear that if they win next year’s general election, they will raise the price of electricity and gas to market level, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.
“The left’s position is clear: if market prices are rising, the people should also pay more,” the prime minister said in a regular interview with public broadcaster Kossuth Radio. He added that his government, on the other hand, had fixed household utility prices in the interests of families and pensioners. Even though the price of electricity and gas has increased two to three-fold in Europe in recent months, Hungarian households have not seen their utility bills rise, Orbán said.
“That’s how it’ll be as long as the country is governed by a nationally minded government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Orbán said it was a “foolish idea” on the part of Brussels to introduce “a so-called climate protection plan that will further raise prices” when energy prices were already rising.
But governments have room for manoeuvre, Orbán said, adding that it was possible to fight climate change by making the biggest polluting companies bear the costs for it instead of households.
He said this was currently the most contested issue in Brussels, as the more prosperous western European countries wanted to impose a tax on homes and vehicles while the central European countries were resisting such a measure. The main question at next month’s summit of European Union leaders will be which side prevails, he added.
Featured photo illustration by Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI