According to Kontra, with Márki-Zay, the energy multis that brought price increases would also return to Hungary. The portal knows that the left-wing prime minister candidate was delegated by his former employer to the Brussels lobby organization Eurelectric, which represents 3,500 companies.

The stated goal of the organization is to represent the interests of multinationals operating in the European electricity sector to the decision-makers in Brussels. Eurelectric has recently repeatedly expressed its immeasurable distaste for official price regulation, i.e. utility reduction.

Eurelectric is led by the CEO of the French EDF, Jean-Bernard Lévy. In other words, one of the units of Péter Márki-Zay's former workplace, EDF, is at the head of Eurelectric. The lobby organization's conception of markets coincides with the liberal thinking also represented by Márki-Zay. In other words, in their opinion, it is good if the state intervenes as little as possible in the operation of the market in case of exceptionally high energy prices. Therefore, they are opposed to measures that protect consumers, such as utility reduction.

In a letter written to Frans Timmermans this year, they specifically demanded the cancellation of the Romanian overhead reduction. In another document from 2016, they also criticized the Hungarian regulations and explained that "the sector has been waiting for a long time for new pricing, with more favorable tariffs for them" in Hungary.

Kontra draws attention to the fact that the opposition prime minister candidate did not mention in any of his CV that he was a committee member of Eureletric around the time of the utility reduction, even though it would have been important for him to inform the public about this, since the global organization has been a gateway to the EU general staff for several decades, he regularly states and its opinions and guidelines to the European Commission.

Eurelectric also has a Hungarian department

The portal continues to present the international lobby organization. Eurelectric represents 3,500 companies in 32 European countries, i.e. beyond the European Union. So, it is a group of companies representing a large amount of capital, which is believed to have a decisive influence on the entire electricity sector throughout Europe. The presidency is held by the French EDF CEO: Jean-Bernard Lévy, who was previously also the chief of staff of the French Minister of Industry. Moreover, he was awarded the French Order of Honor and the title of Merit/Knight. The vice president of the organization and also the CEO of Electrica SA is the Romanian Georgeta Corina Popescu, who, like the French CEO of EDF, is also well-versed in the political environment of her country, as she previously also functioned as state secretary of the Ministry of Energy. The second vice-president and CEO of E.ON is Leonhard Birnbaum. In 2008, a Hungarian branch was also established in Eurelectric, in which, of course, the then EDF–DÉMÁSZ also participated as a member.

According to Eurelectric, integration should be increased, and it would definitely be necessary to reduce the influence of politics in the event of energy price spikes. In other words, they are attacking exactly the kind of measures that protect consumers, such as utility reduction. In another document from 2016, Hungarian regulation also gets its share, as Eurelectric explains that they find the Hungarian regulatory system risky. Later, they also talk about the fact that the electricity sector in Hungary has been waiting for years for the new pricing scheme, with tariffs that are more beneficial to them. The reason for the wait is understandable, since the multinational companies that previously employed MZP have lost quite a bit of profit since the introduction of the overhead reduction.

Kontra believes that the multinational energy companies that previously eviscerated the Hungarian people want to return to Hungary after a change of government, since the period of the left-liberal governments meant "free robbery" for them. Péter Márki-Zay previously worked for these multis, and today he still represents their interests by, among other things, attacking overhead reductions. It could easily be that they are behind the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely.

The rise of French, German and Italian energy companies began in Hungary in 1995, and the leftist governments completely liberalized both the electricity and gas sectors by 2008.

And the multis, thus placed in an uncontrollable situation, raised the price at will. By 2010, we had to pay the most for electricity and natural gas in Hungary. And the profit from the looting of the Hungarian people migrated abroad. So it's no wonder that the multis behind Márki-Zay look back on this period.

Source: mandiner.hu

Featured image: origo.hu