Hungary seeks EU budget compensation for phasing out Russian energy

BRATISLAVA, September 10. /TASS/. The government of Hungary plans to demand that the European Union’s new seven-year budget include compensation payments to member countries that phased out Russian energy supplies, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said.

"I would like to see concrete, data-based initiatives aimed at supporting Central European companies and facilitating their phase-out of Russian gas and oil, transition from fossil fuels to alternative sources of energy, and development of their energy storage infrastructure," he said at a news conference after the summit of the Visegrad Group (comprising Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic), which took place in Bratislava.

He added that the energy situation remains extremely difficult worldwide, with many nations experiencing gasoline and diesel fuel shortages.

"The budgets of EU member states are unable to handle such a financial strain. Moreover, maintaining fuel price caps will inevitably lead to shortages. We agree that this situation is unacceptable," the premier continued.

However, he continued, we've heard nothing from the European Union leadership except grand slogans about the need to protect competition, while in the meantime "Central European companies are going bankrupt, because they can no longer pay their electricity and gas bills."

"We need concrete proposals for every European," Magyar continued. "In particular, we need to understand how exactly we can help our enterprises."

The political program of his Tisza party, which won the April 12 parliamentary election, contained a promise to eliminate Hungary’s dependence on Russian fuel by 2035, but offered no practical measures.

Upon taking power, Magyar’s government reaffirmed its commitment to pursue this goal and diversify the list of the country’s energy suppliers. At the same time, his cabinet admitted that it cannot currently phase out Russian oil and gas and will continue cooperating with Russia in this area.

Currently, Hungary predominantly receives its oil via the Druzhba pipeline and its natural gas through the TurkStream pipeline, along with branches through Bulgaria and Serbia. According to previous government estimates under Viktor Orban, Hungary imported over 8.5 million tons of oil and more than 7 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia in 2025.