Hungary against Russian oil price cap, ready for meeting with Russia

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
26 Oct 2022 21:22

Budapest's stance on the energy crisis is reiterated by the country's foreign minister.

Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's Foreign Minister

Hungary asserted that it is not in support of a price cap on Russian gas imports since it may reduce supply to Europe and increase energy prices, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Sputnik.

"When it comes to gas, we made it very clear that we do not support any kind of a price cap on gas because we see the risk of such measure ending up in a lower quantity of gas delivered to the European market, and we all know that if you decrease the volume of a product on the market then the prices will further increase. So, that's why we are against the price cap," Szijjarto said in an interview.

However, the European Commission has not yet put forward any concrete proposal on a price cap on natural gas from Russia, according to Szijjarto.

"We had a meeting of the energy ministers of the EU yesterday in Luxembourg, and there was no concrete proposal to be put on the table yet when it comes to gas," he said in an interview. "The European Commission should put the proposal on the table soon, but I don’t know what time they will be ready."

Ready for a meeting with Russia

Szijjarto also mentioned that he is "always" ready to meet up with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, asserting the importance of keeping lines of communication open.

"If there's a need, of course, we can reach each other very easily. So, if there's a need to meet, if there's a need to talk, then we always do [meet]," Szijjarto said. "I believe in communication. I believe in the necessity of keeping the channels of communication open."

In addition, he also hopes that the United States and Russia would "seriously" consider the possibility of holding a meeting to find a solution to the Ukraine crisis.

“We do hope that both the American and the Russian administration will consider seriously to meet finally with each other and to discuss this issue [conflict on Ukraine] and come to an agreement, which could ensure peace, and then all these threats and all these dangers might be over. This is the only solution,” Szijjarto said.

Earlier this month, Hungary launched a nationwide survey to ask its citizens to agree or disagree with the government's opposition to EU sanctions against Russia.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is well-known for his opposition to Russian sanctions, said they were causing more harm to Europe than to Russia. This is evidenced by the current energy crisis and the surges in prices.

It is worth noting that Hungary is heavily reliant on Moscow for energy, receiving roughly 80% of its gas from Gazprom.

Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, Budapest managed to secure an exemption from the EU to continue its purchase of Russian gas.