Replenishing energy storage a key issue
Energy insecurity, rising energy prices and inflation are threatening the normal functioning of European economies.
Finance Minister Mihály Varga, speaking to Hungarian journalists after a meeting of the EU’s Council of Finance Ministers (Ecofin), stressed that as autumn and winter approach, the question of Europe’s energy security is becoming increasingly important.
The Hungarian energy storage capacity is 36 percent full, he said, confirming that the Hungarian government has placed the necessary orders for further energy purchases.
He said that ministers were working to ensure that there were no financial obstacles to member states’ access to energy and to see how Europe could become independent of Russian energy sources.
Commenting on the six-month work program of the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, Varga said that Hungary fully supports the Czech objective of ensuring energy security for Europe. He also supported the work to strengthen European defense capabilities and the protection of cyberspace.
The finance minister additionally called the debate on the amount of money to help Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction premature, but he also said Hungary was ready to support it if the war-torn country needed further financial assistance.
On the introduction of a global minimum tax, he said Hungary wanted to convince its partners that “it is not advisable to introduce a tax increase in the middle of a war crisis, as it would have a very serious impact on competitiveness and the labor market.”
