The fact that Hungary is cooperating with Russia on energy issues is not out of political preferences or for fun, but the region's infrastructure, says the Foreign Minister.Continue reading
The Hungarian economy will lose 4,000 billion forints (EUR 9.8 billion) through no fault of its own simply because of the increase in energy prices, Viktor Orbán said at an economic event organized for the Széchenyi Card Program. The Hungarian Prime Minister stressed that next year the same quantity and quality of energy as this year will have to be purchased for so much more money.
Viktor Orbán said that “we were right” in saying that that those who supply weapons to the war zone are drifting closer and closer to war, and that sanctions will disrupt the European economy and that energy sanctions especially will bring inflation.
He added that
we are now in an energy crisis that threatens to bring about a rapid decline in European industry as a whole.
However, he added that it was a good thing to be able to stay out of the coming recession and war.
However, if the Hungarian government fails to protect families from high utility bills, they will fall back to where they were in 2010, the prime minister said. “And the opportunity for the lower middle class to get ahead, which is what we have been working hard for twelve years, will disappear,” he underscored, adding that although it is debatable from an economic point of view whether it is right to maintain such a system of subsidies, it is not debatable from a social point of view.
Tamás Menczer, Secretary of State for Bilateral Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, also spoke about the sanctions on public television’s M1 channel. He recalled that
Brussels has so far adopted eight sanctions packages against Russia, and for months it was argued that these would end the war.
Although initially the EU had also promised that the sanctions would not affect energy carriers, they have now been extended to energy carriers, which has led to an energy crisis and sanctions inflation. “Brussels should not be working on new sanctions, but on lifting previous restrictions on energy carriers,” the secretary of state stressed.
Featured photo via MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán