The tale of the cricket and the ant reminds me of the latest hair-raising plan of the European Commission, according to which the member states could be encouraged to make mandatory savings in the event of a gas shortage, writes Zoltán Kaszab in his opinion article on Vasárnap.hu.

It is worth starting at the beginning of the complicated story that led to the Commission's recent history of being out of touch with reality. In the first half of the 2010s, Hungary started building a very serious gas storage capacity. Of course, left-liberal portals and politicians were already against the plan, saying that it was unnecessary to store such a large amount of gas. At the same time, the cabinet was already very smartly prepared for worse times. Which have now arrived. And here comes the other half of the story.

The false "solidarity" with Ukraine, the unnecessary good-naturedness and moralizing have now led to the fact that Europe must fear that it will not have enough gas in the winter.

The poor Ukrainians will not get better and the Russians won't get worse because many EU countries simply shut off the gas taps coming from Russia or reduced deliveries. And after that, Moscow had no interest in being a reliable partner and began to reduce the price of gas to the Union itself. Of course, even though energy experts and realistic politicians said that we need to be careful, because we will certainly not survive this winter without the Russian energy source, mindless moralizing overrode basic strategic and security interests. So some of them behaved like crickets, enjoying the moment, while others, like ants, preferred to stay quiet and start filling their reservoirs.

Now, of course, that "winter is coming" , the crickets have also realized that they will be cold and nothing could be more obvious than to ask the thrifty and forward-looking ant - if they don't have it anymore.

Of course, the problem with crickets is not only that they have nowhere to get gas, but also that they can hardly store any of it. 444, who can hardly be accused of right-wing bias, wrote that the current 45% filling level of the Hungarian reservoirs means more gas in absolute terms than there is in the 98% saturated reservoirs of the Poles. Because it may have already become clear from the above, but let's make it clear: in the current situation, Hungary is the hardest-working ant in the Union. By modifying the utility bill, it is ensured that gas will remain affordable, and that it will be possible to get through this winter without major restrictions. Of course, only if the Commission does not go through with the calculations.

In Brussels, they are about to adopt a plan according to which the Commission could encourage member states to make mandatory savings (!!!). In other words , they would be told from Brussels how many degrees to heat the radiators in Nyíregyháza or Barcs, when to cook and how much water to shower. Of course, this seems completely unrealistic at first (and many times), but at the same time it becomes understandable if we think about things further and remember Mandfred Weber's words a few weeks ago. The president of the People's Party stated that the member countries should obligatorily distribute the gas among themselves, so that those who have it can help those who have run out.

And this is where the mandatory savings plan becomes understandable: if the saved gas is distributed compulsorily, then everyone gets a little - of course, to the detriment of those who had foresight.

This is how the cricket survives the winter - by living as a parasite on the back of the foresight ant. Of course, it is clear that the ant does not want this. And not because of what all the left-liberal crickets are bringing up now, that the ant is not in solidarity with the crickets. Yes it is. However, the ant has been telling the cricket for a long time that what he is doing will be bad, and no matter how many times he has said this, the ant has always been the one to blame for everything bad. Unfortunately, however, the ant may not have a choice: the Commission cunningly introduces its plan not on the advice of the prime ministers, but on the advice of the energy ministers, where even a qualified majority is sufficient for acceptance. In other words, even though Hungary and some other member states oppose mandatory savings, the Commission can push through its plan against them. We have already seen something similar, in connection with the migration quota - and we saw how "well" it worked. Let there be no doubt: if the crickets defeat the ants, it will send a very bad message for European integration as well.

Source: vasarnap.hu/Zoltán Kaszab

(Cover image: energiainfo.hu)