The head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry called the price limit for Russian gas absurd

BUDAPEST, September 9 — PRIME. The initiative to introduce a limit on gas prices is absurd, because it leads to its rise in price, the European Commission recognized that this measure is not economic, but political, said Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto.

“This gas price ceiling, which is practically aimed at ousting Russian gas from the European market, is simply absurd. Absurd from an economic point of view, because you don’t have to be a Nobel Prize winner in economics, or even graduate from an economics department, to understand that the smaller the supply of a certain product, the higher its price. That is, if Russian gas is forced out of the European market, the amount of gas in the European market will decrease, which will lead to an increase in its price,” Szijjarto told Hungarian journalists after a meeting of the countries’ energy ministers EU. The speech was broadcast on social networks.

According to him, European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simpson “also recognized that this is a political measure and the reduction in gas prices does not depend on it.” “We know that the introduction of a gas price ceiling would mean ousting Russian gas from the European market, because representatives of Gazprom and the Russian government made it clear that if there is a price ceiling, then we can say goodbye to Russian gas, Gazprom will no longer will supply gas to European partners in accordance with the agreements,” the minister said.

He stressed that if, as the European Commissioner admitted, the measure “is not aimed at lowering prices, but at reducing Russian revenues, then this is nothing but a sanction.”

“If you remove Russian gas from the European market, this will create big problems for the Hungarian energy supply, because this is not a political, but a physical issue. So Hungary does not in any way support the introduction of a gas price cap, because this would lead to higher prices and serious challenges in terms of energy supply,” Szijjártó concluded.

Ministers on Friday discussed actions that could be taken in the EU to mitigate the impact on residents and businesses from high energy prices. No final decisions were expected on them. EU countries are now waiting for official proposals from the EC.

Among these measures was a price limit on the import of Russian pipeline gas, in favor of which the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, spoke out.

At the same time, a number of EU ministers spoke on Friday in favor of limiting the cost of other deliveries of “blue fuel” to the union. The European Commission has previously reported that it is studying the option of introducing a cap on LNG prices.

However, Friday’s discussions at the Council of Ministers showed that price limits for “blue fuel” in the EU require further study, a source in the EU told RIA Novosti.