Hungary to set up new energy ministry next month - PM's chief of staff

Hungary will set up an energy ministry as a separate entity effective from December 1, the prime minister's chief of staff said on Monday, as the government seeks to address soaring energy prices, Report informs via Reuters.

The new energy minister will be Csaba Lantos, chairman of the board of energy company MET Holding AG since 2009 and a former deputy CEO of Hungary's OTP Bank.

The change in government structure comes after Minister for Technology and Industry Laszlo Palkovics resigned last week ahead of the planned transfer of the energy portfolio to a new energy ministry.

"The new ministry will be tasked with a unified leadership on energy policy," chief of staff Gergely Gulyas told a news briefing. He confirmed Palkovics's resignation.

Soaring energy prices are causing a jump in Hungary's current account deficit and budget deficit and posing one of the biggest challenges to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government. Hungary is largely reliant on Russian gas and crude imports.

The foreign ministry will still be responsible for the planned expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant, Gulyas said.