Hungary prepares a legal battle against the EU

Hungary will take legal action against the European Union before the Court of Justice of the EU to try to annul the community bloc’s plan, which contemplates the progressive prohibition of imports of Russian energy resources.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced last Sunday that the lawsuit will be filed as soon as the regulations are formally adopted this week and added that Bratislava will join the initiative. The RePowerEU plan was launched by Brussels in 2022 after the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and aims to cut all imports of Russian fossil fuels by the end of 2027. Last week, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement to set the end of purchases of Russian liquefied natural gas in 2026, while pipeline deliveries would be eliminated by November 2027.

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Hungary and Slovakia have rejected this roadmap, denouncing that it threatens their energy security at a time when both countries still largely depend on Russian oil and gas. “Legal fraud” In his latest post on X, Szijjarto directly called the future regulation “legal fraud”, arguing that it is actually a sanctioning measure that should require unanimity among the member states. He added that the proposal contradicts the EU treaties, which reserve to the countries the competence over their energy policy, and even questioned the coherence of the text with the European Commission’s own impact studies. “As soon as the RePowerEU plan is adopted next week, together with Slovakia we will submit a request for annulment to the Court of Justice of the European Union and request the suspension of the regulation for the duration of the legal proceedings,” he asserted. The Hungarian minister explained that they are resorting to this measure “because the ban on imports of Russian oil and gas would make it impossible to ensure a secure energy supply for Hungary and Slovakia and would cause a drastic increase in prices.”