Updated: “Theoretically”: Significant Supplies of Electricity to Ukraine Could Be Restricted by Hungary & Slovakia
- 7 Aug 2024 2:09 PM
- Hungary Matters
Hungary and Slovakia have raised the idea of restricting or even suspending electricity supplies to Ukraine if it fails to resume the transit of oil to the former two countries, public news channel M1 reported on Friday, referring to talks between the two countries.
Experts asked by M1 have said that such a move was “theoretically” possible, through coordination between Hungary and Slovakia.
Olivér Hortay, senior researcher at Századvég, said Ukraine heavily relied on imported electricity, adding that the power supply received through Hungary “has on many occasions accounted for over 40-42%” of Ukraine’s domestic demand.
“Cutting such a large amount off would seriously impact Ukraine’s supplies,” he added.
MEPs Call for EC Steps Over Ukraine ’Blackmail'
Fidesz-KDNP EP group leader Tamás Deutsch and MEP Kinga Gál have called on the EC to stand up against "Ukrainian political blackmail" that they said had put the energy security of EU member states at risk.
Based on official Ukrainian statements, the country’ decision to stop delivering crude to Hungary and Slovakia was an attempt to strong-arm those countries into changing their pro-peace stance on the war, the letter said.
At the end of July, Ukraine ramped up its sanctions on Russian oil company Lukoil, and stopped deliveries of Russian crude to Slovakia and Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline as a result.
Deutsch and Gál called on the EC to take the necessary steps so that Ukraine scraps the “unacceptable and unlawful” measures that gravely endangered the energy security of the countries, which were lacking alternative routes to purchase oil.
At the same time, they said the step also ran afoul of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement’s regulations on transit deliveries. In such a situation, the EC should be protecting the interests of member states “as a matter of fact”, and “should force the third country to follow the law”, the letter said.
The European Commission’s steps, however, had been “inadequate, even permissive in the face of Ukraine’s blackmail”, they said.
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