Taking advantage of sanctions, France and Germany increased trade with the Russian Federation
Hungary, despite the pressure exerted from Brussels, will continue to cooperate with Russia in the energy sector.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó stated this in an interview with Izvestia, answering a corresponding question.
“To be honest, we don’t care at all what Brussels thinks about this, because we are talking about our own energy security. How our energy supply is filled is an internal matter of Hungary, a purely national competence. And I don’t think that anyone from Western Europe has the right to put pressure on us in this regard, given the fact that the construction of a pipeline between Russia and Germany is now underway. The latter is generally considered Gazprom’s largest customer in Europe,” the diplomat said.
In turn, the publication asked why Budapest, in this case, has not yet lifted the restrictions against Russia imposed by the EU.
The minister noted that decisions of this kind depend on major EU players.
“I would like to note that we have never compromised Europe’s common position on this issue and are not going to break the unity of the European Union. Whether sanctions are eased or not depends on what the major players in the association decide. But, you know, there is another point: the countries of Western Europe have benefited greatly from the sanctions, because small companies from Central Europe operating in the Russian Federation were simply forced out of the Russian market. While the French, Germans, Dutch and others over the years have only increased and continue to increase trade with your country,” the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry emphasized.
“We see that trade turnover between Russia and France has increased by 41% in recent years, and with Germany by 20%. And over several years of sanctions, we have lost $8 billion in export opportunities,” Szijjártó complained.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.