EU gas plan ‘useless, unenforceable,’ says Hungary
Hungary rejects the EU's decision to cut gas consumption amid Russia’s move to sharply reduce gas exports to the bloc’s members.
"This is an unjustifiable, useless, unenforceable, and harmful proposal," Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday.
The remarks came right after the EU’s energy ministers approved the plan in a majority vote held in Brussels. Hungary was the only country to vote against the scheme.
The plan obliges the bloc’s members to voluntarily reduce gas use by 15 percent based on a five-year average, from August to March.
The EU is grappling with an energy crisis caused by Russia's previous decisions to cut the flow of gas supplies to the continent. The decision has apparently been prompted by the bloc’s unprecedented sanctions against Russia over its February-present military operation in Ukraine.
The crisis deepened after Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Wednesday it would further cut flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to a fifth of capacity.
Gazprom said the curtailment was due to the fact that a turbine needed to operate Nord Stream 1 has been sent to Canada for repairs, and cannot be returned because of the sanctions.
Still addressing the bloc’s gas consumption reduction scheme, the Hungarian official said, "We were the only ones to signal that we are voting no... given that this decree completely ignores the interests of Hungarian people."
Hungary imports 65 percent of its oil and 80 percent of its gas from Russia.
"Will someone in Brussels be explaining to Hungarians how Hungarian people or companies won't be able to use gas while there is gas in Hungary, the whole thing is clearly nonsense," Szijjarto concluded.
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