“Without well-thought-out development projects and the determination of the required resources, it would be irresponsible to undertake long-term climate protection commitments”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Friday in Budapest following a press conference on another topic.

Mr. Szijjártó stressed that Hungary supports the fight against climate change and is continuing to fulfil its international climate protection obligations, but development frameworks must be determined at European Union level prior to the adoption of the planned climate protection targets for 2050. “Nobody today can responsibly determine the cost of becoming carbon dioxide free”, he added. According to the Minister, without development funding the price of public utilities could increase by as much as 30-40 percent, but as he explained, keeping utility costs low is as much the duty of the Government as is protecting jobs or reinforcing the competitiveness of the economy. Mr. Szijjártó also mentioned the warning issued by the International Energy Agency, which is concerned that climate protection could become untenable in view of the falling popularity of nuclear power plants. Accordingly, the Minister rejected negative discrimination against nuclear power for political or any other reasons. “Per capita carbon dioxide emissions in Hungary are 40 percent lower than in Germany, which is regarded as one of the pioneers of the fight against climate change, and by 2030 up to 90 percent of domestic energy production could be free of greenhouse gases thanks to the use of solar and nuclear power stations”, the Minister said.

(MTI)