Hungary accuses Croatia of unreliability after oil supply proposal
Photo: Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó (Getty Images)
Hungary has accused Croatia of being an "unreliable partner" for oil transit, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
According to Szijjártó, Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis sent a proposal yesterday to the prime ministers of Slovakia and Hungary to use the Croatian pipeline for oil transportation. Croatia had previously offered its assistance.
"Croatia is simply not a reliable country for transit. It is unreliable because, since the start of the war, the transit fees for oil have increased fivefold above the market average. It is unreliable because they have made it impossible for MOL to reduce shipping capacities for a long period," the Hungarian Prime Minister stated.
He also said that it is unreliable because "the necessary investments to increase the capacity of the pipeline have not been made, and the data on maximum capacity is provided in a manner that has never been verified by anyone."
"Thus, the cessation of oil supplies from the east would endanger Hungary and Slovakia due to an unreliable transit country," Szijjártó added.
Background
Recently, it was reported that Ukraine banned the transit of Russian oil from Lukoil to Hungary and Slovakia through its territory, although Ukrainian sanctions against Lukoil had been in place since 2018.
Hungary and Slovakia reacted sharply.
Hungary's Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó threatened Ukraine with arbitration if an agreement could not be reached during consultations with the EU. However, consultations have not yet begun, and the European Commission has not made a decision on this matter.
In turn, Slovakia threatened to halt diesel fuel exports to Ukraine if the transit of Russian oil was not resumed.
Recently, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that Ukraine has no intention of lifting sanctions against the Russian company Lukoil, as the imposed restrictions do not pose a threat to the energy security of Slovakia and other European countries.
Moreover, the European Commission has preliminarily found no risks to oil supply security to Hungary and Slovakia following Ukraine’s sanctions against Lukoil.
Meanwhile, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated that his country is ready to transport oil to Hungary and Slovakia through the Adriatic pipeline JANAF.
