The draft sanctions include a clause stating that the embargo only applies to Russian oil arriving by tanker, while oil arriving by pipeline is exempt from the import ban.Continue reading
If the oil embargo against Russia was a nuclear bomb for the Hungarian economy, then the gas embargo would be Armageddon, and therefore it should be avoided, said István Hollik, the Communications Director of governing Fidesz party on Thursday.
In a statement, Hollik noted that Viktor Orbán had fought hard to reject Brussels’ oil embargo proposals earlier this week at the summit of EU leaders.
However, the fight for Hungary’s reduced energy prices is not over, as more and more politicians are demanding a gas embargo after the oil embargo, both domestically and internationally. The Ukrainian president, and the Ukrainian ambassador to Budapest Lyubov Nepop, have both called for this, and there were also some on the political left in Hungary who called for the same, István Hollik recalled.
The politician stressed that the situation is even more dramatic for gas prices than for oil.
Compared to Hungarian residential prices, people in Amsterdam pay 15 times as much as in Hungary, while in Vienna it is 12 times, in Stockholm and London 11 times as much, and in Berlin almost 10 times more.
It’s clear that if the gas taps were turned off, gas prices would rise dramatically and the economy would grind to a halt,”
the Fidesz communications director underlined.
“We will not allow the Hungarian people to pay the price of war, so we will say a firm ‘no’ to any gas embargo proposal, just as we would to the oil embargo,” said István Hollik.
Featured photo illustration by Noémi Bruzák/MTI