LMP slams government for rejecting proposal to curb gas consumption

Written by BT/MTI

Fossil fuels must be phased out, the deputy group leader of opposition LMP said on Thursday, slamming the government’s decision to vote against a European Union proposal to curb gas consumption by 15 percent.

The government insists on an economic policy that ruins the environment, Mate Kanasz-Nagy told a press conference.

At a time when 90 percent of the gas consumed comes from imports, the government is planning to build gas-fuelled plants to provide electricity for battery plants, Kanasz-Nagy said. The imports would probably come from Russia, he added.

Instead, Kanasz-Nagy called for an insulation programme for residential buildings and support for sustainable energy sources.

Hungary and Poland voted against a proposal of the European Commission to extend earlier legislation cutting the use of natural gas by 15 percent on Tuesday. At the time, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto warned that artificially curbing industrial consumption raised the risk of economic regression, and accused the EC of curbing member states’ competencies on energy issues.