According to Prime Minister Péter Magyar, the previous government was already fully aware in 2022 that Hungary’s electricity system was heading toward a severe crisis, yet it still committed to supplying major industrial investments whose energy demands could not be met by the available grid or power-generation capacity. In a video published on Thursday evening, the prime minister referred to a government proposal approved by Péter Szijjártó, which stated that without drastic intervention the system was “on its last legs” and that its annual costs could rise from HUF 50 billion to as much as HUF 400 billion. Magyar also claimed that the decision-makers at the time knew there was no affordable electricity import available to supply the energy promised partly to battery-industry investors.

Magyar Spoke of Additional Demand Comparable to the Capacity of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant

One of the central claims in Péter Magyar’s video was that the previous government had committed to additional industrial electricity demand on a scale comparable to the nominal capacity of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. According to the prime minister, this put Hungary’s entire energy supply at risk.

Magyar said these decisions pushed the stability of residential electricity supply to the brink of collapse. He claimed that the former government made commitments to large energy-intensive investors while already being aware of the limitations of Hungary’s electricity system.

Magyar did not specify exactly which investments together would have created demand on this scale. In the video, however, he referred specifically to battery-industry projects that had been promised substantial amounts of electricity by the previous government.

He Quoted From a 2022 Government Proposal

The prime minister referred to a government proposal drafted in 2022 and, according to him, approved by Péter Szijjártó. The document contained assessments of the condition of Hungary’s electricity system and the interventions considered necessary.

According to Magyar, the document clearly warned that drastic measures were required to maintain the system’s sustainability. The wording quoted from the proposal suggested that the situation was already regarded as extremely serious at the time.

“Without meaningful market intervention, the system is on its last legs, while its costs are increasing at an unprecedented rate, from HUF 50 billion a year to as much as HUF 400 billion,” Magyar quoted from the document in his possession.

Security of Supply Could Have Become Unsustainable Within Months

According to the section of the 2022 proposal presented by Magyar, without drastic intervention the secure supply of electricity to Hungarian consumers could have become unsustainable within a matter of months. The document reportedly based this assessment on an evaluation by the Hungarian Energy Office.

“Without drastic measures, within a few months the security of supply for Hungarian consumers will become unsustainable, according to the assessment of the Hungarian Energy Office,” the proposal stated, based on Magyar’s account.

The prime minister said this proved that the government at the time had not encountered the problems unexpectedly. He claimed that decision-makers had already possessed professional assessments four years earlier that clearly described the condition of the system and the possible consequences.

Costs Could Have Increased Eightfold

The figures included in the document indicated that the annual operating costs of the electricity system could have risen from HUF 50 billion to as much as HUF 400 billion. That would have represented an eightfold increase.

According to Péter Magyar, the previous government nevertheless continued to support additional industrial projects with exceptionally high energy needs. In his view, this placed further strain on a system that was already facing serious problems.

Based on the statements made in the video, the government proposal did not warn only about the technical condition of the system. The rapid increase in operating costs also suggested that, without major intervention, the model would not have remained financially sustainable.

Grid Capacity Was Insufficient

Magyar said the decision-makers at the time knew that the grid did not have enough capacity to supply the electricity promised to major industrial investors. This meant the existing system might not have been able to serve new large consumers safely.

The prime minister claimed that the problem was not limited to the amount of electricity that could be generated. The constraints of the infrastructure required to transmit and distribute electricity were also known to the former government.

According to Magyar, the previous cabinet nevertheless made promises to investors. He argued that this created not only an economic risk but also a direct threat to security of supply.

Generation Capacity Was Also Lacking

The prime minister said the necessary power-generation capacity was also unavailable alongside the grid limitations. Domestic electricity production would not have been able to cover the additional demand created by new large industrial consumers on its own.

According to Magyar, the 2022 working document also warned that Hungary’s power-plant infrastructure was ageing. At the same time, no suitable new power plants had been built to replace deteriorating capacity or satisfy rising demand.

The prime minister contrasted this with the Orbán government’s continued commitments to new industrial energy demand. Magyar said the combination of these two trends placed the country’s electricity supply in an increasingly dangerous position.

Affordable Imports Could Not Be Relied Upon Either

Péter Magyar also claimed that the previous government knew the missing electricity could not simply be replaced through affordable imports. In addition to domestic generation and grid constraints, foreign purchases therefore did not offer a stable solution.

According to the prime minister, the decision-makers at the time still committed to supplying major industrial investments. In his view, they promised electricity to investors even though the necessary conditions for producing, transmitting and importing it were not all in place.

Magyar concluded that the current situation was therefore not the result of unexpected developments. He said the previous government had possessed the relevant information years earlier but had not meaningfully changed the direction of its industrial policy.

He Said the Stability of Residential Electricity Supply Was Also Put at Risk

The prime minister said the energy needs of industrial investments did not affect only corporate consumers. According to him, the additional burden also pushed the stability of residential electricity supply to the brink of collapse.

Magyar argued that the previous government placed the demands of major investors ahead of the security of the entire electricity system. He said the document presented in the video demonstrated that the former leadership had knowingly accepted this risk.

For now, the prime minister’s allegations are based on the sections of the document he presented. The full government proposal has not been made public, so all of its findings and their precise context remain unknown.

The Prime Minister’s Office Was Asked to Release the Full Document

Questions were sent to Fidesz’s press department, and the party was asked to respond to Péter Magyar’s allegations. According to the source, no reply had been received by the time of publication.

The Prime Minister’s Office was also asked to make the full 2022 proposal shown in Magyar’s video available. Publishing the document would make it possible to examine the quoted passages in their complete context.

Any responses from Fidesz and the Prime Minister’s Office will be published if they arrive. Until then, only the excerpts quoted by the prime minister are publicly known.

The Full Document Could Clarify the Background to the Earlier Decisions

The complete version of the proposal could show exactly what measures were recommended in 2022 and which of them were implemented by the government at the time. It would also be important to know what specific data and calculations supported the conclusion that security of supply could become unsustainable.

The full document could further reveal how the energy demand of battery-industry projects was linked to the condition of the grid and generation capacity. Péter Magyar referred to these connections in his video, but not every detail can be assessed without the complete text.

The case therefore concerns not only the political responsibility of the previous government, but also the information on which long-term decisions affecting Hungary’s energy system were based. Releasing the document could help establish what risks the Orbán government had identified and what measures it took in response.

MNO – Magyar News Online

Fotó: MTI / MTVA

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