Szijjarto: Hungary, Slovakia initiate procedure against Ukraine

The ministry cited Szijjarto telling a press conference after the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels that the Ukrainian decision to stop Russian oil company Lukoil’s crude oil transits had severely endangered energy supplies for Hungary and Slovakia.

He said that energy supplies were not a matter of politics but infrastructure, and considering that there were no alternative routes, Hungary’s crude oil needs could not be resolved without Russian resources. As a result, Hungary, together with Slovakia and Czechia, has been granted exemption from EU sanctions in terms of imports, he added.

He also said that Lukoil provided one-third of Hungary’s and 45 percent of Slovakia’s crude oil imports, and the Ukrainian ban therefore posed a fundamental threat to the two countries’ energy security.

“This is an unacceptable and incomprehensible decision from a country that wants to be an EU member, and with a single decision it endangers the crude oil supplies of two countries,” he said.

For the time being, the situation could be stabilised with temporary solutions but the security of crude oil supplies for Hungary and Slovakia cannot be guaranteed without Lukoil supplies even in the medium term, he said

“As a result, we have been in continual consultations with the Slovak government in order to resolve the situation. Yesterday I also talked to the Ukrainian foreign minister by phone and he said there were naturally no problems and all transits were allowed through Ukraine, but this is obviously no true,” Szijjarto said.

“Lukoil supplies have not been able to arrive in Hungary for several weeks … with this new regulation Ukraine prohibited the transit of crude oil supplies from Lukoil,” he added.

Szijjarto said this violated the EU-Ukraine association agreement which stated that Kyiv must not disrupt the transit of energy to members of the bloc. In line with the agreement, in such case the affected member state can immediately launch a consultation procedure and the European Commission is obliged to represent the state in the matter, he added.

If the issue cannot be resolved, then there is an option to set up a chosen court and proceedings to be executed within forty days, and if even that does not bring a solution, then the EU is authorised to not fulfil some of its contractual obligations, such as in the area of the customs duties exemptions.

“Today jointly with Slovakia we initiated at the European Commission the launch of consultations that precede the chosen court proceedings,” he said. “It is an urgent matter because the security of energy supplies is an acute issue, and the European Commission therefore has three days to carry out the consultations with Ukraine, and failing that, the chosen court will start dispute settlement proceedings,” he added.

The minister said that the two countries were simultaneously working on various legal and technical solutions in order to ensure that in case the consultations failed, the court dispute settlement proceedings could start.

“We have been continually in contact and certain solutions have been taking shape that could secure energy supplies in the long term,” he said.

Szijjarto said the Ukrainian decision was “unfriendly and unexpected” also in light of the fact that 42 percent of the country’s electricity imports arrived from Hungary in June.

He said that despite all the criticism it was receiving, Hungary was continually aiding Ukraine’s energy supply “in these hard times”.

The company that operates Hungary’s electricity network is making serious efforts to help Ukraine connect with the European network, he said.

Additionally, next to Poland, Slovakia and Hungary granted rapid aid to Ukraine for the operation of its energy system, Szijjarto said.