2024-08-04 23:48:47
Croatia is not a reliable country in terms of providing Hungary and Slovakia with oil after Kiev suspended fuel transit from Russia. This was stated by the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry Peter Szijjarto, Day.Az reports with reference to TASS.
“Croatia is simply an unreliable country for transit. From the beginning [конфликта на Украине] “They raised the transit fee so much that it is five times higher than the average on the market,” the minister wrote on Facebook (banned in Russia; owned by the Meta corporation, recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation).
According to Szijjarto, Croatia has prevented the Hungarian energy company MOL from ensuring “long-term use of transport capacity.” According to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “the suspension of eastern oil supplies will make Hungary and Slovakia dependent on the transit route through Croatia, which cannot be relied upon.”
On August 1, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced that the Croatian leadership had officially notified the European Commission (EC), Hungary and Slovakia of its readiness to supply these two countries with oil through the Adriatic pipeline in the amount of more than 14 million tons. Deliveries are expected to be carried out through the pipeline connecting the Omišalj port terminal on the Croatian island of Krk in the Adriatic Sea with the territory of Hungary.
On July 17, Ukraine stopped the transit of Lukoil oil through its territory to Hungary and Slovakia due to Kiev’s inclusion of the company on its blacklist. Energy supplies from Russia to these countries are carried out via the Druzhba pipeline, which passes through Ukrainian territory. Budapest and Bratislava demanded the immediate start of consultations with Ukraine with the mediation of the European Commission, calling Kyiv’s actions a direct violation of the association agreement with the EU.
On August 1, the European Commission refused to hold “urgent consultations” on Kiev’s blocking of oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia. The EC cited “the absence of an immediate threat to the energy security of the European Union.” Earlier, a TASS source in Brussels reported that blocking oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia “corresponds to the interests of the European Commission,” effectively tightening discipline within the EU in terms of implementing sanctions against Russian oil.
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