In response to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s call on Friday 24 January for the European Union to intervene to ensure that Ukraine extends the agreement on the transit of Russian gas through its territory (see EUROPE 13551/13), a Commission spokeswoman said that the countries most affected by the end of the agreement had been monitored very closely (see EUROPE 13554/1) and that the Commission had “not seen anything particularly worrying”.
“We have not seen any particular gas price hikes or spikes in the new year. The market already factored in this transit when it put in place protections for longer-term gas prices”, the spokeswoman maintained.
However, she acknowledged that energy prices were structurally high for consumers: “President von der Leyen has mentioned it in all her public speeches over the last two days (see EUROPE 13563/10) and it is an issue to which we are devoting a great deal of attention and which we will be addressing in greater detail as part of the action plan for affordable energy”.
Mr Orbán also claimed that EU sanctions against Russia for its war of aggression in Ukraine would have cost Hungary €19 billion, without specifying how this figure was calculated. The Prime Minister could thus jeopardise the end of month renewal of sanctions, which requires the unanimous agreement of the Member States.
“It is not good that we are paying the price for helping Ukraine (via sanctions against Russia) and that they are causing us problems”, he said on national radio, referring to Kyiv’s decision not to extend the transit agreement beyond 31 December 2024.
Gas prices did indeed rise at the end of December and just after the agreement expired, before fluctuating, due in particular to the increase in imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) during January. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)