The president of Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), Kelemen Hunor considered on Thursday as "embarrassing" the press release made public by the Ministry of Energy in connection with the transaction through which a Hungarian state company intends to acquire the gas and electricity supply division of E.ON Energie Romania, informs Agerpres.
Kelemen Hunor was asked by Digi 24 TV station what he can say about the question marks raised by the minister of energy in connection with the sale of E.ON.
"I have rarely seen a more embarrassing release [of the Ministry of Energy]. It is a commercial matter between a German company and a Hungarian company. Of course, the Romanian state has the ability to verify if there is something to be verified, but not through public releases something like this is solved. On the other hand, we expect Mr. Burduja to come up with solutions for the vulnerable consumer because in April the capping of the energy price ends and he must to come up with a proposal, because we all want at least the vulnerable segment to be protected. (...) The dependence of certain states, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, to some extent, on Russian gas, has been known for 100 years. That is not something discovered by Burduja," argued Kelemen Hunor on Digi 24.
He added that Romania is in a much better situation and it can change for the better not only its fate, but also the fate of other neighboring countries.
"That release, as it is formulated, is not ok. The minister of energy should not issue such a release. You either give a lot of additional information, or you don't leave the suspicion. It's not about the interests of some or others. Unfortunately, Romania sold this business to the Germans many years ago," stated the UDMR leader.
The Ministry of Energy notified the Commission for the Examination of Direct Foreign Investments (CEISD) in connection with the transaction through which the Hungarian state company MVM Zrt. (MVM Group) intends to acquire the gas and electricity supply division of E.ON Energie Romania.
In a press release sent on Wednesday, the Ministry of Energy said that, following a rigorous analysis, it identified multiple topics for in-depth analysis regarding the impact of the possible transaction on Romania's national security. Thus, the main reasons for reporting to CEISD are the Hungarian company's ties with the Russian Federation, the risk of the subsequent transfer of E.ON Energie Romania shares to non-EU entities, risks to the company's data and the personal data of over 3 million users, but also buyer transparency issues.
The Ministry of Energy recalled that MVM Zrt. has extensive commercial relations with Gazprom and Rosatom, Russian companies under international sanctions, through which Hungary maintains a high dependence on natural gas and nuclear technology from Russia.