BUDAPEST, June 26. /TASS/. Budapest will oppose the European Commission’s (EC) plan to phase out Russian oil and gas as that would mean the loss of supplies via the TurkStream gas pipeline, the main fuel source for Hungarian businesses and households, the republic’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, who is on a working trip to Turkey, said.
Speaking in Ankara following the meeting of the bilateral commission on economic cooperation, he said that "Brussels is planning to go ahead with a joint plan from European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, which seeks to block access to cheap Russian sources of oil and natural gas for EU countries, including Hungary." "This will create serious problems with the supply of energy and increase utility costs by 2-3 times in Hungary. We reject Zelensky’s plan and we will not abandon cheap Russian oil and cheap Russian natural gas," the minister said. The meeting of the Hungary-Turkey commission was broadcast by the M1 TV channel.
More than 21 mln cubic meters of gas flow daily via the TurkStream pipeline and its extensions through Bulgaria and Serbia, he noted, adding that last year’s record of 7.6 bln cubic meters in supply volumes is likely to drop significantly by the end of this year.
On June 19, Szijjarto told reporters at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) that Hungary would receive 8-8.5 bln cubic meters of gas from Russia via the TurkStream pipeline and its extension through Bulgaria and Serbia this year, adding that next year it expected the same volume of supplies. Around 2 bln cubic meters will be reexported by the country to Slovakia. The total volume of natural gas supplies to Hungary has been estimated at 10 bln cubic meters in recent years.
The EC has proposed a complete ban on EU countries purchasing gas and oil from Russia by the start of 2028, with imports under short-term gas contracts to be stopped as early as June 17, 2026. Brussels planned to formalize the ban not as a foreign political decision, but as a trade norm, which will make it possible to approve it by a qualified majority of votes in the Council of the EU, depriving member states of their veto right.
However, Hungary and Slovakia refused to pass the decision in any form, linking it to an 18th package of EU sanctions against Moscow. According to the information provided by diplomatic circles, Budapest and Bratislava seek to be exempted from Brussels' energy plan in exchange for approving new anti-Russia sanctions. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is participating in the EU summit, admitted the possibility of coming to a compromise on those issues.