Hungary will get EU funding for developing its oil infrastructure, the Fidesz MEP group said on Thursday.
“Common sense won, the dollar left-wing lost,” the MEPs said in a statement after European parliamentary budget and finance committees voted to adopt the European Commission’s RepowerEU package of proposals.
“The vote concluded highly successfully for Hungary,” the statement said, adding the vote meant that Hungary could take a step closer to energy independence.
It added that left-wing MEPs had worked strenuously in recent months to exclude oil industry investments from eligible projects, but to no effect, while the standpoint represented by Fidesz from the outset “triumphed in Thursday’s vote”.
Hungary’s share of the RepowerEU framework will doubled to more than 700 million euros, the statement said.
The RepowerEU package unveiled in May aims to help EU member states reduce their dependence on energy imports from Russia. RepowerEU can draw on 300 billion euros in the coming years, with 225 billion euros available as a loan from the largest recovery facility (RRF), supplemented by an additional 72 billion in non-reimbursable support.
Three member states, including Hungary, would be able to finance oil industry investments from RepowerEU resources as a result of a compromise reached by the Council of the European Union and the EP in December.
An EP plenary must vote on the decision of the EP committees of the measures to take effect.
