Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said a solution appears to have been found for the problem of oil transits, with oil and gas company MOL most likely able to sign the necessary agreements to ensure that crude oil transits through Ukraine to Hungary are not getting blocked.
“Technically, this will mean that even though the transport is more costly and MOL must bear risks from the Russia-Ukraine border, there is a legal solution that guarantees future” transits, he said. He expressed hope that crude oil supplies will be secure in the long term on the route that is under threat in terms of transits. Gulyás said it was regrettable that the European Commission had not taken action to protect the member states. “Despite this, I must say that it appears energy security can be guaranteed in the long term with the help of these agreements,” he added. He said that neither Hungary nor Slovakia had received any form of support from Brussels. He added that Brussels had failed to protect EU members from the actions of a non-EU member that violated its accession agreement signed with the EU. Gulyás said it was hoped that the solution would guarantee Hungary’s crude oil supplies and energy security in a period when a war is underway and energy acquisition and supplies belong among their most important issues throughout Europe.