According to the Prime Minister, there are three options for independence from Russian energy.
The connection of the energy infrastructure between Hungary and Slovenia also symbolizes the two peoples' hope for the future, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday at the handover ceremony of the Cirkocve-Pince electricity transmission line in Cirkovce, Slovenia.
The Prime Minister emphasized: previously, the peoples living in the former Yugoslav territory and the Hungarians were cut off from each other. For this reason, the Hungarians built all relations in an East-West context, be it gas, oil, or electricity.
This separation remained even after the end of Yugoslavia, and Hungary's only neighbor was Slovenia, with which neither the gas, nor the oil, nor the electricity system was connected until now, Viktor Orbán added.
At the press conference following the handover ceremony, Viktor Orbán announced:
Europe and Hungary face three risks: security, economic and energy supply.
In uncertain times, good neighborly relations become more valuable, so he called it a great value and to be appreciated that Hungary and Slovenia have good relations with each other.
Speaking about this, he emphasized: Hungary also cooperates with Slovenia in the performance of airspace policing tasks within the framework of NATO. In addition, the economic relations between the two countries are also excellent, the Slovenian-Hungarian trade turnover has increased by 35 percent, there are more and more investments between the two countries, and a joint fund for border developments has also been created.
The two countries are also connected by the fact that minority communities living in each other's countries are considered valuable, Viktor Orbán stated. He indicated: since the Fidesz-KDNP government has been in power, the support of the Slovenian community living in Hungary has increased sixfold, and Slovenia also considers the Hungarians living in the country valuable.
Regarding the plans for the Slovenian-Hungarian natural gas pipeline, Viktor Orbán emphasized that there is agreement that the two countries must be connected by a gas pipeline.
The Hungarian side is thinking about a pipeline with a larger diameter, while Slovenia is thinking about a medium or smaller volume, the capacity of which would be increased later. According to Viktor Orbán, this can be overcome, and a smaller start is also acceptable for the Hungarian side.
On energy issues, Viktor Orbán said: Hungary has three options if it wants to further increase its independence from Russian energy sources in the direction of Romania, Croatia and Slovenia.
According to the Prime Minister, Hungary is interested in all three directions, because it wants to eliminate dependency so that there are as many choices as possible.
He added that he is preparing for pragmatic cooperation with his Slovenian colleague.
Later, in response to a question about stock market prices, he also spoke about the fact that, although Hungary, unlike Slovenia, imports energy from Russia for the most part, the development of the stock market price also determines the Hungarian price level through the contract with the Russians.
Featured image: MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltán Fischer
