Index – Homeland – Ukraine does not limit oil transit on one condition, Péter Szijjártó discussed the Lukoil case

Ukraine has confirmed that the ongoing oil transit operations to Hungary and Slovakia are not affected by the relevant restriction, if the Russian company Lukoil is not the owner of the oil, Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU Commissioner responsible for trade policy, stated on Friday, stressing that regardless of this, he considers it important from Russia reducing dependence on energy from

As Index reported, on Thursday the European Commission announced that the security of crude oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia does not seem to be in immediate danger, since the sanctions imposed by Ukraine against the Russian oil company Lukoil do not affect oil deliveries to Hungary via Ukraine.

According to MTI, the trade vice-president of the European Commission informed on his social media page that he spoke with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó on Friday in order for the European Commission to get to know Hungary’s energy supply in more detail.

The competent spokesperson of the EU Commission announced on Thursday that Valdis Dombrovskis discussed the topic of Lukoil transport in detail with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Smihal. After the discussion, the European Commission sent a letter to the competent ministers of Hungary and Slovakia to communicate the preliminary analysis of the Brussels panel and to encourage the two member states to share any additional and detailed relevant information.

Spokesperson Balázs Újvári said that the European Commission has reached a preliminary conclusion that an urgent consultation regarding Lukoil deliveries via Ukraine does not seem justified, as there are currently no signs of direct risks to the security of supply.

To our current knowledge, based on information available to us and consistent with internal security analysis, it appears that the sanctions imposed by Ukraine against Lukoil will not affect commercial companies’ oil transit operations through the Friendship Pipeline until Lukoil is the oil’s formal supplier. owner

he said.

The final commission decision concerning Lukoil deliveries will be made in the light of the answers given by Hungary and Slovakia, the spokesperson added.

According to Péter Szijjártó, Ukraine’s decision is not acceptable from a candidate country

“We had a telephone conversation today with Valdis Dombrovskis, the Vice-President of the European Commission, about the situation that arose as a result of the blockade of oil transport introduced by Ukraine without any prior consultation,” Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, wrote in his Facebook post on Friday, adding: “during the conversation it became clear that we do not judge in one way and the nature of the Ukrainian decision and its consequences”.

“The position of the Hungarian government is clear: the European Commission should not allow a candidate country to mess with two member countries and endanger the security of their energy supply. The Ukrainian decision put two member states in a precarious situation, which is not exactly acceptable behavior on the part of a candidate country. As a result of this decision, a third of our oil imports to the east were at risk, and in the case of Slovakia, this ratio is almost 45 percent,” wrote the minister.

In our view, this measure of Ukraine also violates the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement

Péter Szijjártó stated.

“I also informed the vice-chairman of the committee that, based on our experience so far, Croatia is not a reliable transit country for us, since after the outbreak of the war, the Croatians raised the transit fee to many times the European market average, they did not allow long-term capacity restrictions, and it is not clear that their exactly how much crude oil can be transported through the pipeline,” said the head of the ministry.

Based on all of this, Ukraine’s transit-limiting decision is suitable for serving Hungary and Slovakia to various business and political interests, therefore we continue to expect the European Commission to act in the interests of Hungary and Slovakia

– the minister wrote on his social media page, adding that “we made the detailed information requested by the committee available to the board this morning, and we remained in constant working relationship with the vice-president in order to find a satisfactory solution to the situation as soon as possible”.