• Friday, 05 July 2024

Croatia condemns higher petrol price for foreigners in Hungary

Croatia condemns higher petrol price for foreigners in Hungary
Budapest, 31 May 2022 (dpa/MIA) — Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday condemned recently introduced higher petrol price for foreigners - including citizens of other EU countries - in Hungary. "Hungary must not discriminate against citizens of other EU countries," he told Croatian media on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels. If EU foreigners have to pay a higher price at Hungarian petrol stations than nationals, this is "a clear violation of the law," he added. Last Friday, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán issued a decree making the price of petrol dependent on where the vehicle to be refuelled is registered. Cars with Hungarian registration will continue to receive super octane number 95 petrol and diesel at the official petrol price of 480 forints ($1.30). Owners of foreign-registered vehicles, on the other hand, will have to pay the market price, which is 40 to 60% higher than the official price. Orbán had justified the new regulation with the need to stop so-called "petrol tourism." Drivers from the border regions of the EU neighbors Austria and Slovakia had been driving to Hungary in large numbers to fill up because the official petrol price there is far below that in their own countries. Orbán had decreed the low fixed price in November. For the time being, it is valid until July 1.