“After the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the Croatians raised the transit fee many times above the average in the European market,” Peter Szijjarto said
Foreign Minister of Hungary Peter Szijjarto told Vice President of the European Commission (EC) Valdis Dombrovskis that Croatia is not reliable in a role of the oil transit country.
“We talked today by phone with Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis about the situation occurred due to the oil transportation blockade introduced by Ukraine without any preliminary consultations,” the minister wrote on his page in Facebook [banned in Russia, owned by Meta recognized as extremist in Russia]. “I also told the EC Vice President that based on our experience, Croatia is not a reliable transit country for us because after the start of the conflict [special military operation in Ukraine – TASS], the Croatians raised the transit fee many times above the average in the European market. They did not allow long-term capacity restrictions and it is unclear when making the transit via them, how much oil can be exactly transported via the pipeline,” Szijjarto added.
“The Ukrainian decision put two [European Union] member-states to a dangerous situation, which is unacceptable for the [EU] candidate. After that decision, a third of our oil imports from the east was jeopardized, and this ratio is almost 45% in Slovakia. In our opinion, this measure of Ukraine violates the agreement on association between Ukraine and the EU,” the minister noted.
Croatia notified the European Commission (EC), Hungary and Slovakia about readiness to provide the two countries with oil via the Adriatic oil pipeline JANAF, Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic said on August 1. Supplies are anticipated to be made via the pipeline connecting the Omisalj port terminal on the Krk Island in the Adriatic Sea with the territory of Hungary.
On July 17, Ukraine unilaterally blocked oil supplies via the Druzhba oil pipeline under the pretext of sanctions against Russian oil producer Lukoil. Slovakia and Hungary demanded an immediate start of consultations with Ukraine with the mediation of the European Commission. The EC refused to hold urgent consultations on oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia being blocked by Kiev on August 1. The Commission referred to absence of an immediate threat to energy security of the European Union.
Source: Tass
