Hungary must take a tough stance against Brussels in the field of energy policy, Bence Tuzson said on Thursday in Paks.

The State Secretary responsible for government communications added at the press conference held in the visitor centre of the atomic power station: Brussels is preparing to take away from Hungary the right to fix energy prices, and to hand it over to large energy corporations, thereby rendering energy prices unregulated.

“The Hungarian Government managed to achieve the results of the reduction of household utility charges by drawing the fixing of energy prices within its own competence. If we were to return to the fixing of prices by market players, it would result in price increases”, he said.

He stressed: the first and one of the most important questions of the national consultation that is now taking place is whether we should maintain the official regulation of energy prices in Hungary, or we should accept Brussels’ decision.

We are asking the citizens of Hungary to stand up for the reduction of household utility charges in order to have a stable and safe supply of adequately priced, cheap energy in the long run.

The State Secretary reiterated: people in Hungary were earlier required to pay some of the highest prices for energy among the Member States of the European Union compared with the level of salaries, while today, thanks to the reduction of household utility charges, energy prices are 25 per cent lower.

As he said, all obstacles have now been removed from the capacity maintenance project of the Paks atomic power station, and the construction of the two new blocks with a total capacity of 2,200 megawatts may begin.

The atomic power station accounting for 50 per cent of Hungary’s energy production and supplying 30 per cent of Hungary’s energy consumption is also highly important from the respect of the continued maintenance of the reduction of household utility charges, he stressed, adding that with the two new blocks, it will be possible to ensure a cheap, affordable and safe supply of energy in Hungary.

(MTI)