Report: Hungary needs 5 years to abandon Russian oil

MOSCOW, May 6 (PRIME) -- It would take Hungary at least 5 years to reorient itself away from the supplies of Russian oil, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday as quoted by news website index.hu.

The European Commission suggested a ban on imports of Russian oil with all the countries terminating imports in six months, and Slovakia and Hungary in 20 months.

“We will need at least five years and some money to rebuild into another order and overhaul our plants, this is why we returned the European Commission’s suggestion for a revision,” Orban said as cited by index.hu.

Hungary is interested in constructive dialogue, but if it hadn’t returned the suggestion, Budapest would have to cancel a social program for reduction of payments for public utility services starting from May 9. The European Commission ignored the fact that the countries of the E.U. were in completely different circumstances and conditions by making its suggestion, which is equal to a nuclear bomb strike for Hungary, he said.

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