Prime Minister Péter Magyar emphasised the Visegrad Group’s cooperation in connection with the talks on the European Union’s next seven-year budget, in a telephone interview with commercial news channel ATV on Tuesday evening after his visit to Berlin.
Magyar said Hungary, Czechia, Poland and Slovakia were presenting a united front on the EU budget, as were several other countries with an interest in upholding the importance of the Common Agricultural Policy.
Hungary, he said, was coordinating almost every position with the other V4 countries, adding that apart from a few exceptions, they shared similar views on nearly every issue.
Magyar said that just a few months after the strengthening and revival of Visegrad cooperation, it was already clear that this gave them substantive bargaining power in Brussels as well, since it involved more than 60 million people, and companies of defining weight. He said it was far easier to negotiate, whether with the president of the European Council or with other member states, in this manner than separately.
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The prime minister also touched on the Dublin summit to be held in the second half of the week, noting that the leaders of every European country will be present there. An informal EU summit follows on Friday, also in Dublin under the Irish presidency, where the EU budget and artificial intelligence will both be on the agenda, and many one-on-one meetings will be held with leaders of various countries, he added.
Magyar also touched on the political changes in Serbia. “We are proud that Hungary plays a stabilising role in the Western Balkans. I have already held talks with the leaders of all the countries concerned, and as soon as the new Serbian government is in place, I am ready to negotiate with its leader as well, either in Belgrade or in Budapest. Closer cooperation with the Western Balkan countries is as much in the EU’s interest as it is in theirs. We know from history how important it is that there be peace and prosperity in the Balkans too, and if the EU does not go there, other forces will, and those will certainly not be European,” he said.
As regards Hungary’s energy supply, the prime minister said the energy mix must be constructed so it is as cheap and as secure as possible. Hungary has interconnectors and cross-border capacities and can source gas from many directions, he added.
He stressed that the size of the transit fee is the most decisive element in choosing resources. “What comes from Russia is very cheap, but everywhere there is the exchange price, and Russian gas is also priced off the gas exchange, or the fee payable for the gas delivered to Hungary follows from that,” he said.
He also said he would negotiate with the Romanian prime minister about the Black Sea gas field, on which an agreement is already at hand.
“In Dublin, at the EU summit, we will also hold discussions with other international players. Transit fees are crucial factors everywhere, along with the volumes and the security of the supplies. It is in our interest that gas can come reliably from as many directions as possible. If that is the case, we can coordinate, and indeed bargain, over the transit fees,”
Magyar said. He noted that Hungary can purchase liquefied natural gas through northern as well as southern routes, and American, Norwegian and Azerbaijani gas can come via Turkiye, Romania and Russia.
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