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Hungary declared an “energy emergency” and announced it would halt gas exports to neighboring countries, a move aimed at guaranteeing the country’s energy supply amid reduced gas flows from Russia.
“The time has come for our government to take action,” said Gergely Gulyas, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff. From August, fossil fuel exports to neighboring countries will be halted and measures are being taken to increase domestic gas production by 33%, from 1.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) to 2 bcm. Gas covers 85% of Hungary’s heating needs, and most of it comes from Russia’s Gazprom.
In Europe, a regulation on the security of gas supply has been put in place, adopted in 2017 after a dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas transit tariffs, which led to a supply disruption in mid-winter. The regulation in question gives priority to consumers, families and small businesses in need, and makes solidarity among European countries mandatory, but this step by Hungary calls it into question.
Earlier, the European Union had called on Hungary and Poland on Wednesday to improve the independence of the judiciary and the media, as well as safeguards against corruption, saying the conditions to unlock billions of euros in aid for the two countries had not been met and concerns serious problems continue to remain.
The focus is on the two former communist countries, where Eurosceptic governments are increasingly locked in bitter clashes with the EU over immigration, human rights, environmental issues and democratic values.
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