Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács has announced at a press conference that the Government will do everything possible to protect the results of one of its most important measures: cuts in household utility bills.
The Government Spokesperson emphasised this after Hungarian news portal hvg.hu published an article, according to which Minister of Justice László Trócsányi had written a letter on 8 May to the EU Commissioner for Energy, in which he announced that the Hungarian government is planning measures that will not only halt cuts in household utility bills, but – according to the webpage – will result in an unavoidable increase in gas and electricity prices.
At the press conference Mr. Kovács said that in February the European Union had initiated an infringement procedure against Hungary based on the commitments of the so-called third energy package. Incidentally, he added, these commitments have not been fully met by any EU Member State.
Hungary is conducting intensive negotiations with the EU on the matter, and the Government will give detailed information in due course, but whatever happens, the Government’s commitment to protecting the results of cuts in household utility bills is “rock solid”, Mr. Kovács declared. He explained that “we are faced with a highly complicated […] debate on mostly regulatory issues, the least important element of which is pricing”.
Szilárd Németh, the Fidesz representative in charge of the policy on cuts in household utility bills, pointed out at the press conference that the Fidesz-KDNP parliamentary group fully supports the Government’s policy on cutting utility bills, which is also backed by the majority of citizens.
He said that “Hungary has made a breach” in a system which favours international energy firms. Thus, while earlier Hungarians paid the highest gas bills and the second highest electricity bills in Europe, today they receive the second cheapest energy on the continent, he said. “We do not want to take a single step backwards in this field”, he stressed.
In response to a question concerning the hvg.hu article, the spokesperson said that he thinks it is a bad thing that “this letter came out”, and the Government does not want to share “tactical elements”.
(MTI)
