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Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after the first day of the European Council summit that Hungary will not be subject to the gas price cap or the common procurement, so the country’s energy security is not in danger.
“It was a long battle, but we succeeded in defending Hungary’s interests,” Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán wrote in a Facebook post in the early hours of Friday, after the first day of the European Council summit. He wrote that Hungary received an exemption from the gas price cap, therefore it is not a threat to Hungary’s safe gas supply.
European Council President Charles Michel greets Viktor Orbán (Photo: European Council)
According to the Prime Minister, the European Commission’s energy proposals had posed the biggest threat to Hungary. “By adopting them, we would have risked gas supplies to Hungary being stopped within just a few days,” he pointed out. Orbán recalled that Hungary did not remain alone in its opposition to the price cap and managed to achieve a fair agreement.
The @EU_Commission’s proposal on the gas price cap is like going to a bar and telling the bartender you want to pay half price for your beer. Not going to happen. Customers can’t reduce energy prices. Only #diversification and #competition can. pic.twitter.com/7auYiZSl9p
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) October 20, 2022
“We agreed that even if there will be a gas price cap in Europe, that will not affect the long-term agreements without which Hungary’s gas supply would become frustrated overnight,” he explained.
Orbán wrote that even if there were to be common gas procurement in Europe, that would not be mandatory for Hungary, and all procurement opportunities will continue to remain open. “This is important because we can only reduce the price of energy in our country if we have as many sources at our disposal as possible, if competition on the Hungarian energy market is as keen as possible,” he added.
“Prescribing a regime of common, mandatory energy procurements is not in our best interests, and neither is the application of a common European price cap because in that case the agreements serving as the basis for the gas supplies coming to Hungary would cease and Hungary would be left without an energy supply,” Orbán explained in a Facebook video earlier on Thursday.
Featured photo via Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Benko Vivien Cher