Foreign Minister says REPowerEU is ‘the Zelensky plan'

Budapest Times

2 days ago

Minister Szijjártó said that banning Russian energy sources would multiply utility costs.
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary strongly opposes the REPowerEU plan as it would ruin Hungarian energy security and competitiveness and branded REPowerEU as 'the Zelensky plan'.
Attending a working breakfast of European Union member state ambassadors in Budapest, Minister Szijjártó also said that banning Russian energy sources would multiply utility costs.
The minister told them the bloc faced huge challenges 'in a rapidly changing world,' such as illegal migration and the decline in European competitiveness, which had a severe impact on Hungary's export-oriented economy.
Excluding the years of the pandemic, government incentives helped investments break records every year since 2014, and the European Commission needlessly curbed member states, he said, adding that Brussels should leave such investments to sovereign decision-making regarding the national finances.
Since the EU has not inked a single investment protection agreement with third countries for a long time, the right to bilateral agreements should be returned to member states, he added.
As far as energy deals are concerned, he said the issue was physical and did not impinge on other states. The EC's proposal would result in energy sources being shut down instead of being diversified, he added.
'Frankly, I don't care what the Russians think about our position. And that's the case generally. But nor do I care what Burkina Faso thinks or Australia for that matter.'
'We oppose REPowerEU because it goes against Hungary's interests,' he added.
At an event organised by the holder of the rotating presidency, Denmark, Minister Szijjártó noted that Russian energy imports to Europe have shrunk by 85-90 percent. He said it was 'no longer true' that Moscow could use energy to blackmail the bloc and the EU had achieved its objectives in this regard, adding that the security of no single country should be imperilled by banning energy imports.
He underlined that the elimination of Russian oil and natural gas sources would increase utility costs in Hungary several times over.
'We Hungarians can't be accused of not trying to diversify our resources,' he said, adding that as a landlocked country, Hungary was in a far tougher spot than others.
Six of the country's networks have been interconnected with seven of its neighbours, he said, though lagging infrastructure investments by others mean that 'capacities are still insufficient'.
Minister Szijjártó said criticism of Hungary might be valid had the country not done everything it could to boost diversification, but in fact it had spent billions and tens of billions of euros on interconnection. 'We ask for greater understanding,' he said.
Addressing the issue of Ukraine's bid to become an EU member, he noted the Hungarian government's strong opposition, for which it has been subjected to 'serious attacks'. Many other member states blocked integration of the Western Balkans for many years, 'yet they aren't branded as puppets of the Russians…' he added.