Hungary disapproves of EU Gas Cuts

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Hungary voted against an EU deal on Tuesday that will see member states cut Russian gas between the months of August to March.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a news conference on Tuesday that "Hungary was the only country to vote against this decree because it completely ignores the interests of the Hungarian people… It is an unjustifiable, useless, and unenforceable proposal."

The EU is preparing for a gas shortage this winter. On a proposal from the European Commission, European energy ministers today approved a 15% reduction in their gas consumption between August 1 and March 31, compared to their average consumption over the same period last 5 years.

“In an effort to increase EU security of energy supply, member states today reached a political agreement on a voluntary reduction of natural gas demand by 15 percent this winter,” the Council of the EU said.

“The Council regulation also foresees the possibility to trigger a ‘Union alert’ on the security of supply, in which case the gas demand reduction would become mandatory,” the statement continued.

But Szijjarto said that “the legal basis of a decree that decides how much member states can consume from which supplier is at best doubtful” because the framework EU agreements stipulated that national governments should decide on the national energy mix and energy policy.

Szijjarto added that the EU gas regulation was harmful because it allowed Brussels to decide that Hungarians should not be able to use gas stored in their country.

He said German news agency DPA broke the news of the deal being reached before debates ended, making the official discussion among EU energy ministers look like a theatrical performance.

Read more: Hungary to purchase more gas from Russia