"We are not willing to sacrifice our energy security in a war that is not our war," declared the minister.
The government is not willing to sacrifice Hungary's energy security in a war that is not our war, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said on Saturday in Antalya, Turkey.
At the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya, the head of the ministry called it above all important to understand that energy supply is not an ideological or political issue.
He said that he used to trust
that at least reality will be discussed in the EU Energy Council, but he had to be disappointed.
He criticized the fact that the European debates are characterized by an ideological approach, which, according to him, is bad news for the continent, because if energy supply is not viewed as a physical issue, it will not be possible to find the most favorable solutions for the member states.
He stated: it should finally be understood that infrastructure is needed for energy supply, so this determines where energy carriers can be purchased from, "at least until they find out how to transport natural gas or oil in a backpack."
You can dream, but if you don't have the necessary infrastructure, it will remain just a dream"
- He told.
Péter Szijjártó stated at the panel discussion on energy that the government's responsibility is to guarantee the country's security of supply, which is the top priority.
"That's why we made it clear that
we are not willing to sacrifice our energy security in a war that is not our war”
he said.
He reminded that our country was exempted from the energy sanctions introduced against Russia, because without the cooperation in this field, it would simply not be possible to supply the country. "It's a matter of physics and mathematics," he declared.
The government is satisfied with energy cooperation with Russia
He also mentioned that the government is satisfied with the energy cooperation with Russia, "even if it takes some courage in Europe to say this today".
He added: he told his European Union colleagues that if they can guarantee Hungary's energy supply at the same price, quantity and schedule as the Russians, then we can talk about cooperation, but this is nowhere near the case at the moment.
He then warned that the country would be in grave danger if
ideological considerations would overshadow energy policy.
Expanding capacities is extremely important
The minister also touched on nuclear energy, which, according to him, is the only answer to the question of how electricity can be produced in large quantities, cheaply, safely and sustainably.
He stated that it would be unacceptable for Hungary to exclude nuclear energy from the list of clean energy sources, which is also the subject of ideologically charged debates in Europe.
He emphasized that Hungary has been cooperating with Russia in this area for almost half a century, and although the Paks expansion is being carried out by a Russian company, American, German and French companies are among the largest subcontractors.
This shows that economic actors are ready to think soberly, in contrast to certain governments"
- He told.
Finally, Péter Szijjártó emphasized that the composition of the energy mix must remain within national competence. As he also mentioned that the government is also working on diversification, but in a reasonable way.
As an example of this, he cited, among other things, that Turkey will deliver 275 million cubic meters of natural gas to Hungary this year, so
our country will be the first country not neighboring Turkey to which Turkish natural gas is exported
He also mentioned the so-called Green Energy Corridor, through which green energy is planned to be imported from Azerbaijan and Georgia. He pointed out that for this it is necessary to connect Georgia with Romania, it will be the longest underwater pipeline in the world, more than 1100 kilometers long
He called the development of connections and the expansion of capacities extremely important, which, for example, Hungary and Romania are currently working on in order to increase electricity imports in the future, since our country will soon be the second largest producer of electric batteries in the world, and this requires a lot of energy.
In addition, he also emphasized the importance of expanding the natural gas infrastructure in South-Eastern Europe, pointing out that without it, the involvement of new sources would remain just a dream.
MTI
Featured image: Péter Szijjártó's Facebook page
