The energy economy of Hungary and Austria in the conditions of the transformation of the global environment

Abstract

The study considers the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine, - which has been going on for more than a year, - on the energy economy of the European Union, particularly such countries as Austria and Hungary. The two hypotheses are that the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war undermines the decarbonisation objectives of the European integration in the short and medium term and reduces the EU's global competitiveness in the face of rising energy prices vis-à-vis its global competitors, such as the United States and China. Even Germany, which intended to close down its nuclear power plants completely by the end of 2022, has been forced to prolong the operation of nuclear power plants in order to maintain its energy security. In view of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the supply of fossil fuels is severely hampered by the very limited availability of supply countries and routes, and the very costly additional infrastructure network that will have to be built in the future to strengthen the security of supply. The most significant difference between the Hungarian and Austrian energy strategies is the perception of nuclear energy. While Austria is totally opposed to the operation and expansion of nuclear power plants at international level, Hungary is strongly in favour of maintaining and developing its nuclear power plants in the interest of security of energy supply. In the case of Austria, it is essential to stress that, thanks to its natural resources, two-thirds of its electricity generation comes from carbon-neutral renewable energy sources. The share of renewable energy sources in Austria's energy mix is around 20% higher than the 13% share in Hungary. In the Hungarian energy mix, nuclear energy accounts for almost all of the 20% share “Hungary loses” in the Austrian renewables comparison. The two countries have completely different views on the EU's taxonomic regulation regarding the fact that nuclear energy is also considered sustainable energy. Fossil energy sources are almost equally represented in the energy mix of the two countries.