““Each country has the sovereign right to decide where and how it buys the energy carriers it needs to function” – Sijarto”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
He believes that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine “aggressively reacted to the news about the increase in gas prices due to the termination of Ukrainian gas transit.” The Hungarian politician also drew attention to the fact that yesterday on the website of the Verkhovna Rada, a bill was registered on the closure of gas and oil routes from Russia during the state of war.
“The reality is that in the EU, member states collectively and unanimously decide on accepting new members. In other words, each member country must vote “yes”. Rights: Each country has the sovereign right to decide where and how it buys the energy it needs to function. No one from outside has the right to influence this,” the minister wrote on Facebook on January 8.
Sijarto repeated the thesis that a country that concludes an association agreement with the EU or even wants to become a member of the EU, according to him, is obliged to contribute to the energy security of the EU by providing transport routes.
“Therefore, the closure of gas or oil routes is unacceptable and contradicts the expectations associated with EU integration,” Sijarto writes.
On January 8, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine rejected Hungary’s accusation that the suspension of Russian gas transit allegedly negatively affected prices for consumers in Europe.
The department emphasized that “all European countries” found sources of alternative energy carriers from the United States and the Middle East countries, and “only two of the twenty-seven EU countries failed to cope with this task, and are now trying to transfer their problems from a sick head to a healthy one.”
Ukraine stopped the transportation of Russian natural gas through its territory on January 1 at 07:00 “in the interests of national security”.
The main European importers of Russian gas, Slovakia and Austria, have already secured alternative supply routes, although Fico said there would be “dramatic consequences” for the entire European Union, demanding the resumption of transit. If this does not happen, the Slovak prime minister did not rule out stopping the export of electricity to Ukraine and reducing aid to Ukrainian refugees, of whom there are about 130,000 in Slovakia.
In 2022, after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Budapest not only did not cut supplies, but also signed a new contract with Moscow for additional volumes of Russian gas.
Hungary, in the person of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Head of Diplomacy Peter Siyart, has repeatedly demonstrated its favorable attitude towards the Kremlin. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Budapest has been making statements that contradict the EU’s general position of support for Ukraine.