Hungarian Conservative

Ukraine’s decision not to renew its contract with Gazprom has raised concerns in many about how Russian gas will reach Europe in the future. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated that Russia could still meet European customers’ needs through the Turkish Stream pipeline, but at a higher cost than before. This latest move by Ukraine poses yet another threat to Hungary’s energy security.

Recent statements by Hungarian government officials suggest that the threat to Hungary’s energy supply is being addressed. In July, Kyiv decided to cut off supplies from Russia’s Lukoil to Hungary. Since then, intensive negotiations have commenced, and Hungarian oil giant MOL now appears to be in a position to guarantee the security of Hungary’s oil supply.

The European Commission will not convene a consultative forum on the dispute between Ukraine and EU members states Hungary and Slovakia over the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine. Brussels’ reasoning is that there is no immediate threat to the energy security of these two countries due to Kyiv’s decision to halt the supplies. These developments indicate that the European Commission has blatantly sided with a non-EU member against two member states, jeopardizing their energy security.

After Kyiv failed to restore the uninterrupted transit of Russian Lukoil’s oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that Bratislava might stop diesel supplies to Ukraine. Slovak deliveries account for a tenth of Ukraine’s diesel consumption.

Minister of Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás stated on Friday that Hungary does not want to blackmail Ukraine over the halted transit of Russian Lukoil oil shipments via Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia. However, Gulyás pointed out that if no solution is found in the near future, ‘other steps should be considered’.