Houses in Europe "will not be warmed by political statements"

 

 Political statements will not warm homes in Europe. This was stated in an interview with TASS by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Siarto, commenting on the accusations against Budapest for too close cooperation with the Russian Federation in the energy sector.

"I say this to my colleagues who criticize us for our long-term cooperation with Russia - houses and apartments cannot be warmed by political statements. The only way to heat them is with natural gas, "he said.

 Siarto added that signing long-term contracts with gas suppliers would be key to resolving Europe's energy crisis. "I believe that the key to resolving the gas crisis in Europe will be filling up gas storage facilities and concluding long-term contracts with suppliers," he said.

At the same time, Siarto noted that Russia has proven to be a reliable partner in this area. "If we talk about energy, I must say that we are very pleased with the cooperation with Russia," he said. "In my experience, whatever we agree with Russia, everything is done on time, as we agreed. We respect that a lot. "

 The global gas market is facing a supply crisis amid a sharp recovery in demand in Asia and a shortage of liquefied natural gas capacity. Increased demand for gas in Asia has caused prices to rise and diverted the main supply of LNG, which has contributed to the deepening crisis in Europe. There, the situation is exacerbated by low stocks in gas storage facilities. Against this background, the price of gas in Europe in the autumn of last year for the first time in history exceeded the limit of $ 1,000 per thousand cubic meters, and in December - $ 2,000.

 In October 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that the gas that Gazprom supplies to Europe under long-term contracts costs EU countries four times cheaper than purchased on the spot market. According to the head of state, Russia is interested in long-term contracts, while the philosophy of EU countries in the field of gas market regulation has recently been to abandon long-term contracts in favor of spot contracts, which are supposed to be a more market instrument.