Minister denies report of Hungary’s planned climate target veto

Hungary aims for a fair deal on European climate targets but the government wants to keep public utility fees low, the minister for innovation and technology said on Wednesday, commenting on a report of a planned climate target veto by Hungary at an upcoming European Union summit.

László Palkovics was asked by news website mandiner.hu about a report published by an online media outlet on Tuesday that Hungary may veto not only the EU budget at the upcoming summit but the EU climate targets, too.

Palkovics said Hungary did not have to worry about its ability to reduce emissions by 55 percent by 2030 compared with 1990 level, but it considered it unfair if the EU placed extra expectations on poorer countries with a different historical background from western states.

“We’ll propose 40 percent cut in emissions for all member states by 2030 and the remaining 15 percent to be fulfilled by the European community as a whole,” he added.