PM Orbán will build Europe’s most modern border crossing, sets finish date for 160 km/h railway line

Serbia is the most important country from the point of view of Hungary’s security, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after a meeting of the Hungarian-Serbian strategic cooperation council, listing further joint investment projects in crude oil and gas transit, transmission lines, gas trading and storage and a border crossing upgrade.

Orbán told a joint press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that thanks to developments in recent years more and more of Hungary’s energy supplies have come through Serbia.

“The Russia-Ukraine war closed off the other direction, so Serbia has become a country that provides first-rate security and a guarantee. There is no other country more important to Hungary … and [its] security than Serbia,” Orbán said.

He noted that existing investment projects were reviewed at the meeting and new ones have been decided on in crude oil shipping, gas transport, transmission line construction, natural gas trading and storage. He said a joint electricity exchange will be operating from the end of this year.

He confirmed that the Budapest-Belgrade railway project will be completed by 2026, and it was agreed that the Röszke-Horgos border crossing will be made into Europe’s “most modern, fastest and most civilised” border crossing, thanks to a large joint investment project.

PM Orbán talks Serbia as pro-peace country

Hungary, like Serbia, “is on the side of peace”, and that commitment has strengthened Serbian-Hungarian friendship, Orbán said, adding that Hungary had taken on the burden of conflicts in order to avoid “being dragged into the Russia-Ukraine war”. “We stayed away from that: it is not our war; we are on the side of peace and will remain there,” he said.

During its presidency of the European Council, Hungary had been able to “provide material help” to Serbia by speeding up its EU integration, Orbán said. “Europe must grasp that it is not Serbia that needs Europe, it’s the EU that needs Serbia.”

The EU is mired in problems, and growth, new momentum, dynamism and energy “can only come from new members”, he said. “Serbia is the best candidate for this, and Hungary will continue to do everything in its power to ensure that it becomes an EU member as soon as possible.”

“The US elections and the appearance of a party group of patriots and sovereigntists in Europe has brought about a new reality,” Orbán said. “The future belongs to sovereign, independent nations striving for success, and everyone in Europe must adapt their fate and politics to that,” he said.

Hungarians and Serbians have responded to that “new reality” by deepening cooperation, Orbán added.

Further, “the two countries will have to cooperate in security more closely as the issue is gaining importance in the new reality,” he said. “With Europe suffering from high electricity prices, we need better cooperation on electricity, and if blocs threaten to form in Europe, or Europe responds to the new situation with protectionism, we must strengthen connectivity and we must connect with each other all the more,” Orbán said.

Vucic was engine

He thanked Vucic for being the “engine” of high-level Hungarian-Serbian relations in the past decade. Serbia and Hungary “are two ambitious nations that refuse to resign to the fate the 20th century dealt them, and want to be successful, large and rich.”

Serbia’s success also raises Hungary’s value, he said, and “we have an interest in Serbians being as successful, satisfied, balanced and prosperous as Hungarians in the coming seven years.”

The Hungarian-Serbian strategic cooperation council on Thursday met for the second time, and representatives of the two countries signed seven agreements after the meeting, on legal aid in civil litigation, cultural cooperation, on a letter of intent on cooperation between their ministries of innovation, on renewing Hungary’s plan to provide expertise on EU integration, and on cooperation between the foreign ministries.

Orbán and Vucic also signed a common declaration regarding the meeting.

Increasingly tight cooperation with Serbia in Hungary’s strategic interest, says foreign minister

Tightening cooperation with Serbia is in Hungary’s basic strategic interest because both sides contribute to the improvement of each other’s physical, energy and economic security, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Thursday.

“The closer cooperation gets, the faster our economy develops and the more secure we and energy supplies are,” Péter Szijjártó said after a meeting of the Hungarian-Serbian high-level strategic council.

He said energy ties would strengthen when a new crude oil pipeline between the refinery in Szazhalombatta and the Serbian network comes on line. “This will enable Hungary to be not only a buyer of crude but also a transit country, while opening up further sources of crude for Serbia,” he said.

“On the Hungarian side, the feasibility and environmental impact studies connected to the investment will be prepared by professionals and the selected companies by December, and from then on the implementation of the large investment project will take three years,” he said.

Szijjártó also said that great progress would be made in connecting electricity networks thanks to a new transmission line that would double total transmission capacity by 2028.

160 km/h high-speed railway connection

He welcomed the start of operations of a Hungary-Serbia-Slovenia electricity exchange at the end of this year, making supplies more secure in the region while increasing price competition.

Commenting on the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line, Szijjártó confirmed that by 2026 it would be possible to travel between the two capitals at a speed of 160km per hour.

“For freight transport, the line will also be the fastest route from Greek ports to western European consumers, for instance in the case of Chinese imports to Europe,” he said.

The minister also said that another important investment project planned under the arrangements of Chinese-Serbian-Hungarian cooperation was building the largest, most modern and civilised border crossing at Roszke, where long queues are still frequent today.

Szijjártó said bilateral trade was continually expanding, its value having grown 4.5-fold in the past ten years, to 5 billion euros. “So it is especially important to end the long wait at the border which sometimes takes days,” he added.

“Related financial and technology talks will be started in China in two weeks. Trilateral Hungarian-Chinese-Serbian cooperation has been successful in terms of the railway investment. It is now time that we apply that to road crossings,” he added.

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