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Hungary·Europe·European Union·Energy·Diplomacy·Elections

Hungary's new leader pledges to end Russian energy dependence by 2035

Friday, 17 April 2026, 14:09 · 1 min read

Peter Magyar, who swept to power in Hungary's parliamentary elections on 12 April 2026 after defeating long-serving far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has promised to end his country's imports of Russian oil by 2035 and steer Hungary back toward closer alignment with the European Union. The pledge faces significant obstacles: under Orbán, Hungary expanded its reliance on Russian crude from 61 percent in 2021 to 93 percent by 2025, while roughly three-quarters of its natural gas also comes from Russia via long-term contracts and the TurkStream pipeline. Analysts warn that alternative supply routes exist — including the Adria pipeline from the Adriatic Sea — but diversification will cost more, and Magyar himself has acknowledged that Hungary's energy exposure to Russia "will be here for a while," complicating efforts to meet the EU's own binding deadline to phase out Russian oil and gas imports by late 2027.

Sources
Al Jazeera EnglishCan Hungary wean itself off Russian energy, as its new leader has promised? ↗︎
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