Szijjártó in Minsk: Record gas deliveries highlight Hungary’s energy cooperation with Russia

A “rational” cooperation with Russia is the guarantee for the security of Hungary’s energy supply at competitive prices, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Minsk on Thursday, after a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

In a statement issued by his ministry, Szijjártó said the sides had discussed bilateral ties, including a recent meeting of the Hungarian-Russian Intergovernmental Economic Cooperation Commission at which intentions to further develop cooperation in areas unaffected by sanctions were affirmed. Energy was also a topic at the talks, he added.

He said Hungary had taken delivery of 6.2bn cubic metres of gas through the TurkStream pipeline so far this year, a record volume. The Druzhba pipeline will remain Hungary’s main source for deliveries of crude in future, he added.

Péter Szijjártó and Sergey Lavrov in Minsk on 31 October. Photo: MTI/EPA/Orosz külügyminisztérium sajtószolgálata

Szijjártó said work on the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant was “progressing well”, adding that the first concrete would be poured soon, putting the project officially in the “under construction” phase.

He said the talks had also touched on a number of other topics important from an international political perspective.

Szijjártó urges intl community to resume Eurasian cooperation

The international community should seek to build rather than burn bridges, and should resume Eurasian cooperation, Szijjártó said  in Minsk.

Addressing the opening of the Minsk Conference on Eurasian Security, Szijjártó said the global security situation was at its worst since the second world war, warning that there was even a risk of a global armed conflict.

Szijjártó said it was an “honour” to present Hungary’s position, adding that “nowadays, huge and strong powers are working to create an overwhelming hegemony of opinion”, and if a country did not fully align with the mainstream, its right to represent its opinion was immediately questioned.

“If you don’t fall in line with the mainstream 100 percent … you are immediately stigmatised, you are immediately attacked, you are immediately accused,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement.

Hungary insists on preserving its sovereignty, even though “there are some powers outside of the country and some actors inside who want us to give up at least a part of our sovereignty”, he said.

“But I would like to ensure you that this will never happen,” he said. “It’s high time that all participants of international politics understood that we Hungarians will protect every inch of our sovereignty.” The minister said sovereignty for Hungary meant that the country refused to accept any “diktats”, that its actions were driven by national interests, and that it viewed the world from its own perspective.

“For us, sovereignty means that no one can tell us what to think, what to say and what to do,” he said.

Szijjártó warned that unless there were fundamental changes in global politics in the near future, the world would again be divided into geopolitical blocs. This, he said, went against Hungary’s interests, and the government instead aimed to bolster connectivity.

This, he added, required replacing “the practice of burning bridges with building bridges”.

He expressed concern that global powers were not prepared to cooperate with each other. “Because of this lack of dialogue, the European Union, for example, has become a less safe and a less competitive place compared with what it was 1,000 days ago,” the minister said. “If we cannot come back to the principle of dialogue and mutual respect, Europe is going to be a more dangerous place and Europe will lose more growth potential in the future.”

He said both Europe and Asia benefitted significantly from cooperation, but without cooperation both had a lot to lose. “I think it’s always better to be among the winners than among the losers,” he added.

He said the Hungarian government has adopted a strategy of economic neutrality which meant that Hungary refused to accept any restrictions concerning whom it can cooperate with.

“We cooperate with everyone from the East and everyone from the West, with whomever cooperation makes sense…” he said. “We dislike sanction politics, and we want a global trade and global economic system operated in a free and fair manner.”

Szijjártó also spoke out against the “over-ideologisation and over-politicisation” of energy supply, which, he added, had resulted in electricity in Europe costing 2-3 times what it costs in the United States, and natural gas costing 4-5 times as much.

He said that while political cooperation between the East and the West seemed “far away”, economic cooperation was working, arguing that Hungary had become a key meeting point between Eastern and Western businesses, mainly in the auto industry.

He pointed to the example of Hungary’s upgrade of its Paks nuclear power plant, noting that American, German, French, Swiss and Austrian subcontractors were working on the project alongside Russia’s Rosatom.

Szijjártó criticised the “hypocrisy” of the West attacking Hungary while France has increased its imports of Russian liquefied natural gas by 80 percent, and Spain has doubled and Belgium has tripled them.

“We Hungarians are the only ones who speak about the need for Eurasian cooperation openly, and there are many who think similarly, they are just not brave enough to represent their position,” Szijjártó said.

“So let me encourage our Western friends and allies to be braver, to be more honest, to be more patriotic and stand up for their own national interests,” he said. “Let’s re-engage in international political talks. Let’s stop burning bridges. Let’s start building bridges, and let’s come back to the reconstruction of Eurasian cooperation.”

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