Energy issues do not feature high in the Hungarian election campaign, a staff member of Energia Klub, an NGO, said on Thursday.

Denes Fellegi has examined the campaign platforms of all parties who won at least two percent of the vote in the European elections last year and found that their energy-related messages were rather soft-toned.

All parties agreed that Hungary needs nuclear energy in the future, Fellegi said. Main opposition Fidesz, whose official programme is not yet available, plans to establish "green banks" to help finance modernisation projects in high-rise blocks and energy efficient heating programmes.

The radical nationalist Jobbik campaigns for authority-fixed energy prices and a rise in mining fees. The small conservative opposition Democratic Forum has envisaged high-rise modernisation plans and would freeze the VAT on district heating at 5 percent while supporting green energy investments at public institutions.

The small green party Politics Can Be Different (LMP), which currently hovers around the 5 percent support necessary for entry to parliament, has outlined strict rules to curb energy consumption and would replace gas price subsidies with a flat-rate housing subsidy.

Fidesz and the Democratic Forum have proposed expanding the Paks nuclear plant in order to reduce Hungary's energy dependency. Jobbik would increase the use of domestic resources and renewables. LMP has called for a "monitored transition" from the use of fossil fuels to renewables.

LMP is the most elaborate on climate-change policy plans: it made calls for a binding international climate agreement, a pan-European transport tax and build reginal and local energy supply systems.

All parties have encouraged the use of renewable resources in their energy programmes.