
Fuel prices can only be lower, not higher
The government has decided to put a cap on the price of fuel.
The government has decided to set the upper price limit at the pumps for 95-octane petrol and diesel at 480 Hungarian forints (1.3 euros) per litre from 15 November, Gergely Gulyas, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said.
Mr Gulyas noted that although fuel costs had skyrocketed during the past year, Hungary has the sixth or seventh lowest fuel prices in the EU. He pointed out that Croatia was the only other EU country to cap its fuel prices, at the equivalent of 550 Hungarian forints (1.5 euros).
Concerning utility bills, Mr Gulyas said „Europe is facing an energy crisis”, with the price of natural gas having increased by an average of 400% in European markets in one year. This has had a knock-on effect on the price of electricity, which has doubled in Europe over the past year. He added that household utility bills had increased in every European country except for Hungary, which has long had a cap on utility fees. The chief of staff slammed the leftist opposition for suggesting that the government’s scheme to cut utility bills was unsustainable.
The Hungarian government says that together with the energy crisis, a migration crisis has also unfolded in Europe. One contributing factor is the humanitarian impact of the international troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, another is the developments at the Belarus-Poland border, with the latter exerting the biggest pressure on the European Union (EU) currently. Hungary stands in solidarity with Poland, Mr Gulyas stated. The interior ministry is planning to reinforce border controls and recruit volunteers, who would be deployed after a fast-track course, he added. Mr Gulyas also noted that the number of illegal entry attempts into the country had shot up, from a daily 350 in 2020 to more than 1,000 at present.
On the topic of the epidemic, the government is urging everyone to get vaccinated, including the booster jab. As he said, the protective efficacy of the vaccines starts to taper off after six months. The fourth wave of the pandemic is different from previous waves because “this time we have a weapon in the form of vaccination to fight the virus,” Mr Gulyas said. One in 100 people inoculated against coronavirus contracts the disease, but with much milder symptoms than those who have not received any shots at all, he said.
It is not yet possible to foresee when the fourth wave will peak in Hungary, but it is certain that the higher the number of people getting vaccinated and taking the third jab, “the faster we will get through the fourth wave,” the prime minister’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said at the press briefing.