Commenting on the government’s decision to set up an independent energy ministry to be led by economist Csaba Lantos, opposition LMP said the appointment of Lantos, who they said had profited from fossil fuels, was “no solution to the energy crisis”. Party co-leader Péter Ungár told a press conference that there may be a need for an independent energy ministry but “rushed decisions are a bad sign”. The government has yet to find the cause of the energy crisis, he said, adding that LMP saw the crisis as a sign of “the death throes of fossil fuel-based world order.”
Bence Tordai of Párbeszéd said the reshuffle failed to mark a shift towards “the green revolution and sustainability”. He called for the government to set up an independent ministry for environmental and climate protection, “with energy issues ideally falling under its purview.” Tordai put the blame on the Fidesz government for “basically doing nothing to secure Hungary’s energy self-sufficiency, or for a transition to sustainable energy”. Fidesz’s energy policy has so far been plagued by chaos, incompetency and rushed decisions, he said adding that the approval of Palkovics’s resignation was a confession of that.