Szijjarto: Current EC proposals on oil embargo ‘unacceptable’

Hungary has proposed exempting oil pipeline deliveries in the case of an EU oil embargo, the minister told Hungarian journalists. This, he added, would be the simplest solution, meeting the needs of Brussels without putting countries that receive oil by pipeline “in an extremely difficult position”, he added.

Szijjarto vowed that the Hungarian government would never let Hungarians pay the price of war in terms of their security, be it physical, energy or economic.

The European Commission, “while it is aware of Hungary’s interests, its sensitive points and its position, has made a proposal that inherently involves the possibility of compromising EU unity,” Szijjarto said. The proposal could mean “no less than a nuclear bomb for the Hungarian economy”, and if passed “the country and its economy would become impossible to operate in a physical sense”, he said.

Concerning the economic and environmental aspects of the proposal, Szijjarto said: “Brussels expects Hungary to invest many hundreds of millions of euros in its crude oil infrastructure” while urging the abandonment of fossil fuels and promoting renewables. “Could anyone seriously think that we should make an investment of 280 billion forints just to increase the price of fuels by 55-60 percent and contribute to general inflation?” he said.

Threatening to shut down pipelines “is unacceptable”, Szijjarto said. “It is unacceptable that some are seeking to make the lives of innocent people difficult through such measures, cutting off energy from countries that are not to blame for the war,” he said. “It is legitimate to expect such measures not to be taken,” he added.