Hungarian foreign minister: war in Ukraine “not our war”

Hungary will not sacrifice its energy security for a conflict “that is not our war”, the foreign minister told the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Saturday.

Speaking at a panel discussion of the forum, Péter Szijjártó regretted that the European Union approached the issue from an ideological standpoint, adding that optimal solutions for member states could be found only if the issue is “considered a matter of physical reality”.

Energy supply needs infrastructure, and the procurement of energy resources will always be determined by the delivery routes at hand, he said.

Hungary’s government sees energy supply as a priority, he said.

Noting that Hungary had been granted exemption from implementing certain EU sanctions on the Russian energy sector, Szijjártó said the country’s supply would be impossible without cooperation with Russia.

Replacing Russian energy deliveries with European ones would be realistic only if Europe could supply resources at the same price, quantity and schedule, Szijjártó told EU foreign ministers, according to a ministry statement.

1,100 kilometre-long pipeline planned

Hungary would be “in grave danger” if ideological considerations were to “cast a shadow” over energy policy, he said.

On the matter of nuclear energy, Szijjártó said it was the only cheap, safe and sustainable way to produce large amounts of electricity. Hungary finds it “unacceptable” that the EU is considering excluding nuclear energy from the category of “clean” energy, he said.

Hungary has been cooperating with Russia on nuclear energy production for nearly 50 years, he said. At the same time, the Russian contractor working on the revamping of Hungary’s nuclear plant is employing US, French and German subcontractors, he said. “That goes to show that economic players are ready to think more realistically than certain governments.”

Hungary also stands for member states to be allowed to determine their own energy mix.

The government has also been working on “a sensible” energy diversification. Turkiye is expected to deliver 275 million cubic meters of gas this year, he noted.

Szijjártó also touched on the Green Energy Corridor, a delivery route planned to deliver green energy from Azerbaijan and Georgia. The planned 1,100 kilometre pipeline connecting Georgia and Romania would be the longest underwater pipeline in the world, he added.

Increasing capacity is all the more important as Hungary is set to become the second largest battery manufacturer in the world, and the sector is extremely energy-hungry, he said.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó also called for expanding the natural gas infrastructure in south-east Europe, which is key to drawing new resources, he said.

Read also:

• PM Orbán travels to Florida to meet Trump, Chinese President Xi may visit Budapest – Read more HERE
• FM Szijjártó happily laughing with Russian FM Lavrov on the day of Navalny’s burial – check out the video in our article below