BUDAPEST, May 13. /TASS/. The European Commission’s (EC) initiative to eliminate Russian energy resources will be the final blow to the European economy, which is already struggling due to Brussels’ flawed policy, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said.
Speaking at an international automotive conference in Budapest, he noted that due to EU sanctions against Russia "the previous economic growth model based on cutting-edge Western technologies and cheap eastern energy resources is a thing of the past." "No one has proposed a new model to replace it," the minister added.
"Now energy prices on the European continent are two, three, four times higher than in other parts of the world, including in the United States and China. That said, the European Commission wants to deliver the final strike, driving an unprecedented growth of energy prices in Central Europe. It wants virtually to ban the import of energy from Russia," Szijjarto said.
The EC has unveiled its plan to phase out supplies of Russian energy resources, including gas, oil and nuclear fuel, to EU countries by the end of 2027. Hungary, which receives most of its energy resources from Russia, opposed the initiative, warning that it would try to prevent its implementation through legal means.
The country’s government believes that the plan is in fact tantamount to introduction of sanctions against Russia as its nature is political, not commercial, which means it should be adopted through a consensus. At the same time, Budapest has admitted that it would not be easy for it to hinder the European Commission, which hopes to pass the plan through a majority of votes.