Hungary supports the idea of creating an integrated EU energy market, but not price liberalisation until the smooth and efficient functioning of this market – said Minister of State responsible for EU Affairs Enikő Győri, after attending the meeting of the EU Ministers of European Affairs on 21 May 2013.

The main theme of the meeting the preparation for the EU Summit on 22 May 2013. The Minister of State said it was positive in this respect that the so-called Final Conclusions of the Summit dealing with energy and taxation issues places a significant emphasis on energy prices. There is agreement that energy prices require discussion, however the parties disagree as to what extent price regulation should be left to the markets and to what extent authorities should be involved – said the Minister of State.

Hungary pledges maximum support for the creation of an integrated energy market – emphasized Enikő Győri, who said that Hungary also supports the construction of the required interconnections. The Minister of State pointed out that according to the agreement, the former will have to be implemented by 2014, whereas the latter by 2015.

The objective of all this is would be to ensure that no Member State remains isolated in the European Union from an energy point of view. Enikő Győri also said that price regulation should not be left purely to the markets in the energy sector until this market was functioning smoothly and efficiently. “We cannot say at this moment that price liberalization would solve all our problems” – said the MFA Minister of State responsible for EU Affairs.

She also revealed that some in the Council of Ministers would like to see undertakings for 2030 already, but the Hungarian position on this is that the objectives undertaken so far should be met first, after which impact studies and cost efficiency analyses should be prepared on the new undertakings. Hungary also considers it important that Europe should access energy from as many sources and through as many routes as possible – said Enikő Győri.

“The bottom line is that there should be alternative sources and routes” – she said. With respect to the other main topic of the May 22 Summit – tax evasion, tax fraud and aggressive tax planning – Enikő Győri recalled that about 2.5% of the GDP of the entire European Union is not collected because of tax evasion.

If this revenue was collected – either at EU or at Member State level – and this money could be spent on creating jobs, then this would exercise a significant impact on crisis management, for example – said the Minister of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who thought that steps against tax evasion and tax fraud should also be taken at an international level, within the G8, the G20 and the OECD. Enikő Győri welcomed the fact that she did not detect any efforts towards using this to support tax harmonisation, because – as she said – Hungary would not be a partner in this.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)