Hungarian News

Silly Babble and a Statesman’s Letter

• March 3, 2022
• István
• 10 Comments

Our foreign minister is responsible for foreign trade as well. But this does not mean that he is competent. Yesterday he has offered 2 statements concerning economy that are completely unbelievable ►HU.

The failure of the Sberbank in Hungary would have been caused by Brussels sanctions, not by Putin’s war. That much he confused cause and effect – and left out additional information as well. That it happened so fast had a reason as well, Sberbank’s subsidiary was no success and should have been sold anyway ►HU. The Russian mother company was unable to refinance and the economy in Russia significantly was shocked on the day of invasion with a historical crash. The RTS index of the 50 largest Russian companies moved around the 1500 points line and went a bit down when Putin recognised the separatist areas as states, just to crash to 742.91 points on the day Putin started the war. That the customers reacted and withdrew their deposits in masses with both the war and the consequently introduced sanctions made the authorities act. The banks within the EU as separate companies with own banking licences were not targeted by the sanctions, in the very end they were abandoned by the mother company, who itself is owned in majority by the Russian central bank. Further our central government acted in disadvantage of the bank insurance funds and companies, since they released money 14 local governments have in Sberbank ►HU.

And Szijjártó made very stupid comments about gas and nuclear energy purchases from Russia. Without gas “there will be no heating, there will be no industry and there will be no jobs,” he said (see above) as well as “if no nuclear power plant will be built in Hungary, the overhead cut cannot be maintained, a brutal increase in energy prices will follow.”

We all are aware that we are relying way too much on Russian gas. Both as EU and even more as Hungary. But here Szijjártó makes us to hostages of Putin without any need! Fact is that even if our gas storage is not too well filled at the end of the winter he should know that the end of the heating period means lower demand and even more according to government agency MEKH own statements that there won’t be any shortage to be expected soon, we have right now 1,59 billion cubic meters gas in storage ►HU. Further we mustn’t forget that in huge parts of Hungary gas is not used for heating! Especially in FIDESZ’s own rural areas gas is often not available at all, and where it is it is often not used for heating pure regarding the costs to supply a house with gas connection and heaters! Generally a crisis is enabling changes, changes in thinking, changes in technologies. Here I just want to remind to Márki-Zay’s call to use less energy by insulating houses and using better technologies. We already have started to move away from fossil energies, Putin could have pushed us fast forward into this direction!

And while Szijjártó made irresponsible comments about cold houses G7 has a report regarding gas availability and substitutions. If gas import from Russia would be stopped now completely the EU would have empty gas storage in 2023, there is nearly enough for an entire year! If only North Stream and Turk Stream would be open the contractual gas flow would result in fuller storage next year, let alone if all contracts would be fulfilled ►HU. And they offer a wide range of ways how to replace Russian gas. Replacement would not be for free, but would free us, German minister of finance said in this context renewable energies would be “energies of freedom” ►DE!

And we have “overhead cut” since 2013, while there is not even a permission to build Paks 2. So this context is completely manufactured. The financing of this project is gone, since the sanctions don’t allow the Russians to give this credit any more. It was so expensive anyway that state power plant owner MVM told before the finances of Paks 2 became a state secret that the production price would be 36 Ft / kWh. Today I pay 35.30 for the 1st 1320 kWh / year, 37.74 Ft for the share above. Including all taxes and additional costs, night currant is roughly 40 % cheaper. How Paks 2 could contribute to cheap energy in this context is beyond imagination. Already today we pay with our taxes for the overhead cut. But it also shows how much the word – or the vote – of a FIDESZ politician is, since Paks 2 was voted against in the EP by all FIDESZ MEPs as well. Just the day before yesterday the regime has criticised Péter Márki-Zay for holding a demonstration against the spy bank in Budapest, only hours after the EP has voted to ban this very bank as well. Already yesterday the foreign minister told that he is not interested in what the EP voted for.

While the Orbán government is throwing itself in the dirt in front of Putin again a man who before was not always choosing his words carefully (for example that FIDESZ propagandists would be disabled) changes his wordings into those of a statesman. Péter Márki-Zay wrote an open letter to Ukrainian president Zelensky:

Dear Mr. President!

Please allow me, on behalf of myself and the party alliance Unity for Hungary, to assure you and all the citizens of Ukraine of my deepest sympathy, solidarity and full support during the struggling hours of the heroic patriotic war. We stand by you in the difficult situation you have to suffer under as result of president Putin’s aggression.

At the same time, I would like to ensure that the democratic parties in Hungary, the politicians of the party alliance Unity for Hungary preparing for the parliamentary elections, do their utmost to give the people of Hungary a more accurate picture of the heroic war in Ukraine. I myself, the activists of the opposition party coalition and many, many civilians, play a major role in helping refugees in Ukraine, and we regularly stand up for a free, democratic, and sovereign Ukraine in our demonstrations and political statements.

I am convinced that the victory of an independent and democratic Ukraine against the aggressor is in the fundamental interest of the Hungarians in Transcarpathia, and we are proud of the Hungarians who take part in this heroic struggle as members of the Ukrainian army.

I have as the candidate for prime minister of the opposition party association, a clear program about restoring Hungary’s foreign policy based on national consensus. If the Hungarian electorate gives me its authorisation, my country will return to the main values ​​and objectives of the Euro-Atlantic Alliance, and will take an active and constructive role in their implementation. In the new Hungarian foreign policy Central Europe will play a key role. Also In this context we want to give all assistance to and co-operation with Ukraine that it can find a stable place and role in the Euro-Atlantic community fast. We support without reservations the opening of accession negotiations with the European Union and will provide you with all assistance during the accession process.

In the hope that the Russian aggression, this war started for nefarious reasons, will end soon with the victory of Ukraine and the full restoration of its territorial integrity, and representing the new government of the democratic Hungarian opposition, we can also take part in the restoration and reconstruction of Ukraine, that we can work together to shape a new chapter of friendship and co-operation between our countries. I am convinced that a new Hungarian leadership, restoring democracy, and a democratic Ukraine will find a suitable and reassuring solution to the open issues of recent years for both parties.

Signed in Záhony on March 2nd, 2022

Yours,
Dr. Péter Márki-Zay
Prime minister candidate ►HU

It is part of the sorry state of Hungary that neither the current PM nor his foreign minister have written or said comparable at the address of Ukraine, instead they are whining about their pet projects, projects that are mainly in favour of Russia and we Hungarians have to pay for.