Hungary Declares 'state Of Danger' Amid Energy Crisis Triggered By Russia-Ukraine War

 Hungary has declared a “state of danger” as a result of the energy crisis brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and put a seven-point plan in place

In the latest development, Hungary has declared a “state of danger” as a result of the energy crisis brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Zoltan Kovacs, a spokesperson for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, stated that the Hungarian government on Wednesday declared a "state of danger" in response to the nation's growing energy crisis and put a seven-point plan in place to get ready for future government actions in August, CNN reported.

Kovacs cited Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Hungarian prime minister's office, and claimed that the government will take a number of actions, including raising domestic lignite output and increasing domestic natural gas production to two billion cubic metres, along with exporting a ban on energy sources. In addition to this, following a cabinet meeting, Gergely Gulyás unveiled the seven-point plan to address the energy problem and outlined the actions. 

Taking to Twitter, Kovacs stated that further actions include the restart of a power plant, prolonging the operations of a nuclear power plant, and asking users with above-average energy usage for the market price. 

Kovacs even noted that obtaining an extra gas supply is also the responsibility of the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó. 

Ever since Russia commenced its unjustified assaults on Ukraine, natural gas supplies have decreased throughout Europe, forcing nations to race to maintain supply in case Russia shuts off the taps. 

As of now, Gazprom, a Russia-owned gas industry company, has stopped supplying at least 20 billion cubic metres of its yearly gas to customers in Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands because they could not comply with a demand issued by President Vladimir Putin back in March to pay in rubles. 

Hungary declares state of emergency due to Russia-Ukraine war

Apart from this, in May, in retaliation for Russia's actions against Ukraine, Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, issued a state of emergency. In a video message, Orbán said that the crisis in Ukraine is a constant "threat to Hungary," endangering national security. He said that the nation's economy and households are under threat from the conflict in terms of energy and finances. 

Meanwhile, in the month of June, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the embattled president of Ukraine, has a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Orbán to discuss Ukraine's application to join the European Union (EU), which Orbán has stated he supports. 

Zelenskyy and Orbán also spoke about the refugee crisis in Ukraine, since Hungary has already taken in almost 800,000 Ukrainian migrants and intends to keep doing so. According to Orbán, Hungary is willing to work with Ukraine on energy-related projects and will support Ukraine's rail grain exports.