BUDAPEST, May 24. /TASS/. Hungary will insist on allowing some Russian energy supplies to continue flowing into Europe, contrary to a proposal by the European Commission, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said following an emergency cabinet meeting on energy.
"Because of the energy threat from Ukraine, I had to convene an emergency economic meeting. Brussels is determined to help the Ukrainians at the cost of destroying Hungarian and European families. Brussels intends to cut off gas and oil supplies from Russia. This means additional costs of 800 billion forints (about 2 billion euros) for Hungary," Orban said in a video address broadcast by national television.
The amount equals the government’s annual allocations to subsidize utility bills. If the European Commission's plan comes into force, natural-gas and electricity bills will increase by several times, the prime minister warned.
"This can only be prevented if the government prevents the European Union from making the decision in Brussels," he said.
He also urged people to take part in the referendum on Ukraine's bid to accede to the EU, which is currently taking place in Hungary. The government has said multiple times that it believes a hasty admission of the country to the bloc would be dangerous for the Hungarian economy and security and for the interests of all other EU member states.
According to Budapest, while Brussels is working to support Kiev in the conflict with Moscow by any means, Ukraine put the Central European countries in a difficult situation by halting the transit of Russian gas through its territory on January 1. Hungary viewed that step as a threat to its energy security.