Russia

Hungary reaches new agreements with Russia on energy supply

szijjártó moscow energy agreement

Hungary has reached new agreements with Russia that will guarantee the country’s uninterrupted natural gas and oil supplies in the coming period, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Moscow on Tuesday.

Szijjártó said that despite the reactions his visit to Moscow was likely to draw from “the international liberal mainstream” and the Hungarian opposition, cooperation with Russia would remain key for Hungary’s energy security as long as energy supply was a physical issue and not a political or ideological one.

Though Europe is “proud to have got through the winter”, a recent report by the International Energy Agency indicates that energy supply security will be critical in the next heating season, Szijjártó said after meeting Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister in charge of energy matters, and Alexey Likhachev, Rosatom’s chief executive, according to a ministry statement.

The minister argued that there were no guarantees that the next winter would be as mild as the past one, adding that China’s energy needs were rising now that it had reopened its economy after the pandemic and that European LNG capacities were limited.

He said the uninterrupted supply of Russian gas to Hungary was crucial, welcoming the extension of the option for Hungary to increase, if need be, gas imports beyond the volume specified in the country’s long-term gas purchase agreements.

A second agreement extends Hungary’s option to defer payments of its gas over a 150 euro price threshold, irrespective of the current prices, he said. Though gas prices are well below that right now, “the past year has demonstrated that we have to be able to prepare for extreme situations, too,” he added.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said Russia had assured him that the technology, knowledge and parts needed to operate the TurkStream pipeline were all in place despite the sanctions.

Szijjártó said some 80 percent of Hungary’s oil supply had been delivered via the Druzhba pipeline in 2022, adding that Hungary and Russia had agreed that the Russian supplier would continue delivering the oil to Hungary’s oil and gas company MOL via the Ukraine-Hungary border.

He said Russia in the past had proposed other solutions that would have made Hungary responsible for the deliveries via Ukraine, “but it is better to avoid this in the current situation”.

In order to maintain the oil deliveries via Ukraine, MOL will pay the transit fee directly to the operator of the Ukrainian pipeline network, Szijjártó said.

Hungary and Russia agree changes to Paks upgrade contract

Hungary and Russia have agreed on changes to the construction and financing contract of the upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant with a view to enabling the project’s continuation and completion, Szijjártó said in Moscow on Tuesday.

The war in Ukraine and the responses to it have not made it any easy to make progress on the expansion of the Paks plant, Szijjártó said after talks with Alexey Likhachev, Rosatom’s chief executive, according to a ministry statement

Though so far sanctions on nuclear energy have been prevented, “it is clear that throughout Europe, in many cases there are efforts to block successful nuclear cooperation between Hungary and Russia through political means and unlawful decisions”, the minister said.

Szijjártó said that regardless of the war and the sanctions, the Paks contract had to be modified because of the technical and technological changes seen in the nine years since it was signed.

“The sanctions have only added to this, so by modifying the contract Russia and Hungary had to find the legal framework that ensured that the nuclear plant can be built,” he said.

Hungary and Russia have also agreed on how the construction and financing contract would be changed, he added.

Once those amendments are finalised, they will be submitted to the European Commission for approval, Szijjártó said.

“We hope the European Commission doesn’t wish to put Hungary’s long-term energy supply at risk,” the minister said, adding that the Paks plant’s new blocks were critical to guaranteeing sustainable and affordable energy supply in the coming period.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó welcomed the completion of the diaphragm wall monitoring tests, adding that they have been submitted to the National Atomic Energy Authority (OAH) and the power plant’s leadership for review.

The minister also welcomed the progress being made in the planning of the sixth block’s construction.

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Major changes around Paks II – what happens to Russian and French assistance?

Paks Nuclear Plant Hungary

Economist Gergely Jákli wrote about the future of the Paks II project in his company magazine. He talked about how the strict contractual frameworks hold back the advancement of the project.

The strict framework is holding them back

Recently, PM Orbán’s political director Balázs Orbán admitted that the contractual framework of the Paks II project is being reconsidered in the light of increasingly stringent Western sanctions. Reacting to this, Mr Jákli said that there is an increasing need for the new blocks as soon as possible. He said that the current daily electricity demand of around 6,000 MW could rise to around 10,000 MW per day by 2030. Thus, if Paks I and Paks II were to produce in parallel by then, the two plants would still meet 40-45 percent of the expected electricity demand per day.

He then spoke about the general contractor agreement with Roszatom, which promises the completed Paks II project with a construction cost of EUR 12.5 billion. Of this, EUR 10 billion would come from Russian loans.

“Rigorously driven piles give the appearance of stability, but they also tie your hands and make it harder to move the project forward. I believe that the contractual environment is also full of such pillars, which are rather obstacles and slowing factors,” Portfolio quotes Mr Jákli as saying.

These changes are likely to affect only the status of the Russian prime contractor, in line with Portfolio’s background information, and not the complete replacement of Russia’s Rosatom in the project. Since, according to Mr Jákli, “the project is in our hands”, the indications are that Paks II Zrt. could be the main contractor, and French Framatome could really only get a bigger role in the management system.

Rosatom will still be the main partner

What Jákli said also confirms that Paks II Zrt. is still counting on Rosatom to build the primary circuit. Thus, the scheme would continue to build on the internationally well-established division of labour, with Western European companies joining the Russian primary circuit in various areas, Portfolio writes.

“We are committed to this, we plan to continue to implement the project with Roszatom, and our suppliers – both Framatome and Siemens – are also committed to the project,” Mr Jákli concluded.

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PM Orbán’s name popped up in the largest leak scandal of the US secret services

orbán kiskőrös 15 march national day speech

A document labelled “TOP SECRET” wrote about the Hungarian prime minister’s relationship with Russia, the European Union and NATO. However, Yahoo News admitted they could not verify the documents’ validity.

Orbán sees the USA as a geopolitical adversary?

The news outlet writes that the document containing Orbán’s name originated from the CIA and was labelled top secret. It is an assessment of the Hungarian leader stating that he is still close to Russia, Yahoo News wrote. But it also says that Hungary, as an EU and NATO member, considers the United States “one of its most significant geopolitical adversaries.” Since Hungary is a small state while the USA is a superpower, the statement is quite interesting.

But it is true that there are significant conflicts between the Hungarian government and the Biden administration. The new American ambassador in Budapest, David Pressman, regularly slams the Hungarian government for being too pro-Russia and anti-Ukraine. Meanwhile, the American government terminated a crucial agreement between the two countries regarding the evasion of double taxation. The lack of such an accord would cause trade difficulties between Hungary and the USA.

Europe loses on the sanctions

It happened after the Orbán cabinet criticised the EU sanctions against Russia. Orbán states that the sanctions do not harm Russia’s economy to an extent decisive considering the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. But they affect the European economy badly. The Hungarian government and pro-government background think-tanks suggest that the USA only utilises Europe for its purposes during the war in Ukraine. And that results in the deliberate weakening of the “old continent”. However, the representatives voted for every sanction after Hungary and other European countries received some exemptions e.g. in the case of Russian oil deliveries.

Media says that the current leak is the largest one in the history of the American secret services. 444.hu writes that many documents emerged on Discord, Twitter and Telegram seem to be secret reports of the services. A military analyst said the documents prove how deeply US secret agents infiltrated Russia’s intelligence network.

Here are some documents:

And that could be a problem in the war in Ukraine because now Moscow learned about its weaknesses and can provide a solution. Therefore, the FBI started an investigation on Friday.

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Ukrainians afraid of Hungary’s expansion in Transcarpathia

Hungarian expansion Transcarpathia

Ukrainska Pravda made a report from Transcarpathia’s Beregszász region, where there is a strong Hungarian community, they wrote. They asked locals whether there was a conflict between Hungarians and Ukrainians.

Hungarian expansion in Transcarpathia

In Csonkapapi, locals said the village had 800 inhabitants before the Russian invasion. Not is has less than 300. Only poor people and those who lacked help in Hungary or other Western countries remained. That means not only Ukrainians but also Hungarians leave the area.

According to index.hu, a Hungarian woman told Pravda she regularly follows the Hungarian press because the Ukrainian was telling lies. She criticised the Ukrainian government for slamming the Orbán cabinet since they do not send arms to Kyiv. She believes that it goes well for the Hungarians, they live in peace. Why should they send weapons? Pravda compares the Hungarian government’s struggle for the Hungarian ethnic minority in Transcarpathia with similar Russian efforts in East Ukraine. The only difference is that Budapest has not started a war yet, they conclude.

Vitaly Antipov, a member of the city council of Beregszász, said the Hungarian media transmits the Russian narrative. Furthermore, they provide a pretext for the Orbán government to block Ukraine’s initiatives in the EU and NATO.

Hungarian mayor says they only want to use their mother tongue in Transcarpathia

One of their latest suggestions was to give USD 815 (a lot of money in Ukraine) to parents sending their children to Ukrainian language elementary schools. That is how he believes young people could learn the language of their fatherland. The initiative provoked outrage among the ethnic minorities, but Mr Antipov highlighted that the Hungarian government has been doing the same in the last few years. He said Hungary gives almost USD 300 (HUF 100,000) for the same reason to the Hungarian parents. Furthermore, Hungary supports Hungarian teachers. As a result, many gain a degree but cannot speak Ukrainian. “We respect each other. But our region should not be made Hungarian. If Hungarians are in a majority in Beregszász, that does not mean they should hang another country’s national flag”, an orthodox priest said.

The Hungarian mayor of Beregszász said the Ukrainian attacks against the ethnic minorities do not help victory. He called the Ukrainian representatives’ aforementioned initiative discriminative and aggressive but acknowledged that learning Ukrainian is crucial. Zoltán Babják highlighted that Hungarians living in Transcarpathia are not tourists. They are not anti-Ukraine and want the same as every Ukrainian. They want to use their mother tongue in their everyday life. The European way is not to pay a lot of money for the parents to let their children learn in Ukrainian classes. Ukraine should develop the educational system instead.

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PHOTOS: Budapest Airport alerted – suspicious parcel from the USA

Budapest Airport alerted (2)

National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary (NTCA) officials found a valuable coin in a parcel, coming from the United States.

According to their press release, the shipment was labelled as low value. But, during the checkout, NTCA officers realised it was too heavy. After opening its package, they found a gold coin weighing 41 grammes. Thus, they asked the Ministry of Construction and Transport’s art supervision department. In the answer, the department cleared that the face value of the coin is ten rubbles and depicts Russian tsarina Catherine the Great. Made of pure gold, the coin’s real value is around HUF 3 million (EUR 8,000). As a result, the officials of NTCA reported the case to the police as budget fraud, nav.hu wrote

Hungary pays much more for Russian gas than for gas from elsewhere

Gas energy oil Russia Hungary

January was the fourth month in a row in which Hungary received the most expensive Russian gas among the EU countries. At the end of 2022, there was a month when the average price of Russian imported gas was more than double the average price of gas imported from other countries, G7 reports.

Much more expensive Russian gas

Within Hungarian imports, Russian natural gas is visibly more expensive than gas from other sources, the G7 article says. At the end of last year, there was a month when the average price of Russian gas imports was more than double the average price of gas imported from other countries. In October and November, Russian gas arrived in Hungary at an average price of more than HUF 1,000/cubic metre (EUR 2.65), while imports from other sources were around HUF 500 (EUR 1.33).

The discrepancy can be explained mainly by differences in procurement contracts, G7 writes. Russian gas purchases are largely attributable to Hungarian state actors. Thus, the average import price is also determined by the contracts of these actors. The biggest buyer is the state energy giant MVM. It buys 4.5 billion cubic metres of gas a year from Gazprom.

In their contract, the purchase price follows the stock exchange listing, with a two-month lag. This partly explains the price difference between Russian and other imported energy sources. The gas imported from other sources does not seem to be priced in such a shifted way, but more often at the current exchange price.

The Russians decide when and how much to import

The difference resulting from the shift in pricing also means that although gas from other sources is now much cheaper than Russian gas, there are periods when this is reversed. For example, from the summer of 2021 until the outbreak of the war in February 2022, Russian imports were cheaper.

G7 looked at the full year 2022: Russian gas was 16 percent more expensive than gas from other sources. And since the new long-term contract was signed in October 2021, the difference has been even greater, at 20 percent. This is probably partly explained by the fact that while other market agreements can be concluded when the price is lower, MVM has no or very limited possibilities to do so. It seems to be the Russians who decide when and how much gas arrives. At least at the end of last year, G7 concludes, imports were higher in the more expensive periods. Meanwhile, imports fell as prices fell. This clearly favoured Gazprom.

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Russian politician encourages Hungary to occupy Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region

Hungarian Armed Forces occupy Transcarpathia

Anatoly Wasserman, a member of the Russian parliament, hopes that the Kremlin can negotiate with Hungary. But there is a precondition which would mean that NATO member Hungary enters the ongoing war in Ukraine. But not the way you would first think.

Transcarpathia should be the target

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Hungarian government highlighted several times that Budapest would not bring weapons or lethal equipment to Ukraine because Hungary wants peace. Instead, they keep slamming the United States and its European allies that supporting Ukraine with arms is wrong because Ukraine cannot win in the long run. PM Orbán and his government believe Kyiv should sign a ceasefire and start peace negotiations as soon as possible.

A member of the Russian parliament suggested that Hungary should enter the war on the side of Russia. According to Mr Wasserman, Hungary should conquer Transcarpathia. He added that Ukrainians would not like to fight, and many fled Ukraine. Therefore, the number of eligible soldiers is decreasing quickly. He said that the West would not be able to bring back the young men that left Ukraine and live now in Western countries. He highlighted that Western countries would not send their armed forces to fight in Ukraine, index.hu wrote. “Both options seem unlikely for me”, he concluded.

He said that citizens of some Western countries have already been fighting in Ukraine for a long. But in a form, no Western governments could be held accountable. However, if those peacekeepers arrived in Ukraine, he hopes the Hungarian Armed Forces would occupy Transcarpathia. That is because that region was part of Hungary and there are a lot of Hungarians and a Russian majority (they are not Russians but Rusyns, but it seems Mr Wasserman did not bother to check that out before speaking – the editor).

Hungary does not belong on the blacklist of Russia

Then Russia would start negotiating with Hungary how the interests of the Hungarian minority and the Russian majority (sic!) can be protected in Transcarpathia. The interview with him was published in Russian Pravda.

Meanwhile, a Moscow politologist, Oleg Bondarenko, said that Hungary should not be on the list of unfriendly countries towards Russia. Hungary joined Russia’s black list this week for accepting the EU sanctions. But Bondarenko thinks Hungary should be removed because it is the most friendly state. He added Hungary could not do anything but accept the sanctions because it is an EU member state. Mr Bondarenko told aif.ru that Hungary would not supply Ukraine with weapons and it is not hostile towards Russia.

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Orbán leaked NATO’s secret plan about Ukraine? Russia outraged

Viktor Orbán Russia NATO secret plan PM Orbán

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave an interview with the public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió on Friday and said it had become a legitimate initiative for some European leaders to send peacekeepers to Ukraine. Russia thinks Orbán leaked NATO’s secret plan, and Moscow seems outraged. Or is that just scenery?

Viktor Orbán leaked secret information?

According to index.hu, Orbán said on Friday that some European Union leaders are close to accepting the thought of sending European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. That would mean that official NATO forces could enter the conflict either by starting an attack or defending their positions against a Russian attack. Anyway, such an idea would surely escalate the war considerably.

It would be difficult to explain why NATO is not at direct war with Russia provided their soldiers were killed by Russian troops in Ukraine. Of course, there are NATO countries whose citizens fight in Ukraine even now, but they are not part of the official army.

Orbán reminded in his interview that one year earlier, European leaders were debating about whether they should send lethal equipment to Ukraine. Now they send more deadly weapons to the front. That is the chain of thoughts that already guided some European leaders to start thinking about sending even peacekeepers to the war-torn country.

“World War is a realistic option”, writes Orbán’s Facebook post:

ISW says there are no such thoughts among the EU leaders

It seems that the Kremlin follows what the Hungarian prime minister says. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said that, provided such an EU plan exists, it could be dangerous. He added that they should keep an eye on such statements because if they read that as a leaked plan, it may be very harmful.

What’s more, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, the head of the country’s Security Council, also reacted to what Orbán said, a report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stated. To start with, he wrote on his Telegram channel about NATO troops even though Orbán talked about the EU, not NATO leaders. Secondly, he cleared that such troops would be the enemies of Russia. Thus, they would be legitimate targets. “We shall see whether Europe is prepared for the long queue of the peacekeeper coffins”, he added confidently. He referred to the Iraqi, Korean, Vietnam and Yugoslavian wars to clear for his followers how US and allied troops would fail in Ukraine.

Interestingly, Jarosław Kaczyński, the chairman of the governing PiS, talked about sending a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine last 15 March. However, nobody supported that idea then. And ISW says there is no sign that any Western politicians seriously consider such an initiative. Therefore, Medvedev only used the Hungarian prime minister’s words to show it is not Russia but the West who would like to escalate the conflict. Or is that just scenery and even he does not consider a peacekeeping mission a realistic option?

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Russia has declared Hungary an ‘unfriendly country’, retaliatory measures to come

Orbán Putin visit Russian cyber attacks

Russia has added Hungary to its list of so-called “unfriendly countries”, the Russian state news agency reported.

Until now, Hungary has not been on the list

The list was created after the outbreak of the war. The countries on it have been subject to a number of sanctions imposed by the Russians, Index reports. One of the most significant of these measures is that countries on the list can only pay for Russian gas in roubles.

The European Union was added to the list as a separate entity from the beginning. However, Hungary was not included by name – yet. Later on, there have been examples of EU countries being added individually: last summer, for example, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and Denmark were added, all of which are members of the EU.

Now, Evgeny Stanislavov, Russia’s ambassador in Budapest, has announced in an interview that Hungary has been added to the list. The diplomat said that Hungary was declared an “unfriendly country” because of the approval of anti-Russian sanctions.

“Retaliatory measures” can be taken against Hungary

Stanislavov added that the Budapest government, however, maintains a “pragmatic” position on the war issue and “does not give in to pressure from NATO and the EU”. “To a certain extent, Budapest has been successful in this, but the fact remains that Hungary has signed up to all the Brussels sanctions packages and must comply with them. That’s why it has been classified as an unfriendly country towards Russia, against which retaliatory measures can be taken,” Evgeny Stanislavov told RIA Novosti.

The Ambassador also said that the sanctions are negatively affecting all areas of Hungarian-Russian cooperation. He complained that they cannot work normally at the Russian Embassy. He added that, nevertheless, the Hungarian side remained open to constructive dialogue and diplomatic channels remained open.

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Transcarpathian professor and soldier set to become Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary

Hungarian soldiers Ukraine

Fegyir Sándor, Transcarpathian university professor and volunteer soldier of the Ukrainian army could become the next Ukrainian ambassador to Hungary.

Fegyir Sándor (pictured on the right), a professor at the Uzhhorod National University could become Ukraine’s new ambassador to Hungary. The news was first reported by direkt36’s Szabolcs Pányi and was confirmed by the sources of hvg.hu.

As we have previously written, Fegyir Sándor and his colleague Viktor Troski both left the University of Uzhhorod at the beginning of the war last year and volunteered for service to the Ukrainian army. Sándor gained international fame when he held a lecture from the frontline via his mobile phone to his students.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Liudmyla Nepop from her post as Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary last July.

To hvg.hu’s questions, Mariya Mezenceva, a Ukrainian member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said that they would like to send a new ambassador to Hungary who has Hungarian roots, is trained in social sciences, has good linguistic and cultural ties with the country, has good professional training and is able to conduct serious negotiations. Although she didn’t name anyone specifically, the description fits perfectly with the sociology and philosophy professor of Sándor.

According to hvg.hu’s sources, his appointment has already been discussed with the Ukrainian counterparts of the embassy. Sándor himself confirmed to hvg.hu that he has been notified on the frontline about his possible appointment as Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary.

A Philanthropist, even at the frontline

As the Ukrainian outlet European Pravda writes, Sándor has actively tried to help Ukrainian-Hungarian relations. He also played a key role in fundraisings, started by Hungarian civilians for – among other things – soldiers of Hungarian origin.

Recently, he handed the Hungarian consul in Uzhgorod a Hungarian flag signed by the military – a symbol of the Hungarian revolution of 1956, when Hungarians revolted against the Russian occupation and used the Hungarian flag with a carved communist coat of arms.

Although this is a positive development, the relationship between the two countries could still deteriorate after Ukraine’s latest decision, about which you can read more HERE.

EU to tighten sanctions enforcement, Hungary among the targets

brussels sanctions billboards

The European Commission is getting frustrated with member states, such as Hungary because they enforce the sanctions against Russia superficially. The EU could force Hungary and other countries to report how they act against Russian businessmen.

Even the European Commission is getting fed up with the bloc’s lukewarm enforcement of certain sanctions against Russia, portfolio.hu reports. The European Commission plans to monitor certain countries, such as Hungary more strictly with new regulations regarding transparency.

Since the start of the war, the European Union has adopted 10 sanction packages against Russia. Alongside the import ban on Russian raw materials and export bans on technology, the EU also seized assets from various individuals, state and private companies in Russia.

Countries insist on keeping information confidential

According to the latest available data, the EU sanctioned 1,473 individuals and 205 organisations with business connections to Russia. In response to a question from Portfolio, the European Commission stated that the total amount of assets frozen in the EU as of mid-March was about EUR 21 billion.

Portfolio writes that the European Commission wanted to map the size and location of Russia’s frozen assets, including the nearly USD 300 billion in Russian foreign currency reserves frozen in G7 and EU countries in the bloc.

But this option was rejected, not only by Hungary but by 12 other EU member states. At the same time, Portfolio reports that the Hungarian authorities’ lukewarm disclosure and action, along with that of other member states, might be what has caught the eye not only of Brussels but of some member states as well.

EU officials told Portfolio that similar situations reveal what appears to be weak management in some member states. Countries can see “exactly” when another is passive in certain cases.

“What is clear is that the Hungarian, Maltese or even Danish subsidiaries of a sanctioned individual’s Luxembourg company do not enforce asset freezing despite a clear link” – a source from Brussels told Portfolio.

Nudging countries to act

Hungary, Malta, and Greece reported just a couple of thousands of euros of frozen assets in the last months. There may be problems with data reporting, as every country said that they have frozen larger assets. But the fact remains that many countries have not begun to sanction private assets.

To make it easier for countries to find a legal basis to freeze assets connected to Russian people under sanctions and to enforce legally binding action from the so far reluctant EU member states, Anders Ahnlid Swedish diplomat told AFP that the EU would get “creative”.

According to Portfolio, this could mean a new EU procedure, that will validate enforcement obligations, with new penalties built into the system.

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Is Hungary ending cooperation with Russian Rosatom? Here is the answer

rosatom hungary russia szijjártó

The claim that Hungary’s government is withdrawing from cooperation with Russia’s Rosatom on the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant “is a lie”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday, emphasising that the increased role of France’s Framatome in the project concerned only the delivery of the control technology required for the new reactor blocks.

Framatome’s role has had to be increased because its German consortium partner, Siemens Energy, has not yet received an export permit “for political reasons”, Szijjártó told a press conference during a break in a meeting of European Union energy affairs ministers in Brussels, according to a ministry statement.

Szijjártó said nuclear energy was subjected to discrimination, arguing that the expansion of Hungary’s Paks plant was “constantly facing obstacles” and “they are trying to impose sanctions on nuclear projects, which we regularly block”. He said Germany’s government was still blocking Siemens Energy’s participation in the Paks upgrade and had yet to approve its delivery of the control technology for the project in line with its contract.

Szijjártó slammed the “constant wave of fake news in the international liberal media”, calling reports that the Hungarian government was withdrawing from cooperation with Rosatom “an outright lie”. “We are committed to fulfilling the contract signed nine years ago with Rosatom,” the minister said. “We are committed to the construction of Paks 2 with Rosatom. We have no reason to withdraw from this cooperation.”

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said the EU’s pro-nuclear alliance comprising 12 member states led by France held a meeting earlier in the day. Currently seven countries are planning to build or are already building nuclear plants, Szijjártó said, adding this would lead to a “major nuclear rebirth” in Europe over the coming years in the interest of defending against price fluctuations.

The meeting’s participants agreed to work together closely to combat discrimination against nuclear energy. The group therefore calls for lending conditions to be changed so that they could also be used fairly for nuclear energy-related investments, Szijjártó said.

Legal and licensing procedures should also be reviewed and based on the decades of experience Europe has gained in the use of nuclear energy, he said. The alliance also proposes the development of joint training programmes in the interest of ensuring that there are enough professionals and capacity, he added.

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FM Szijjártó talks to the Russians again – what is in the plans?

Péter Szijjártó foreign minister Belarus

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó discussed Hungary-Russia energy cooperation with Russian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of energy affairs Alexander Novak over the phone on Tuesday.

Szijjártó said on Facebook that he and Novak were in agreement that crude oil and natural gas deliveries were being fulfilled in line with contract, without disturbances.

He said Novak had assured him that “despite the international sanctions, Russia is able to complete maintenance on the TurkStream gas pipeline and Hungary’s natural gas supplies will remain undisturbed in the upcoming period”.

He also said that they had discussed the construction of new blocks in the Paks nuclear power station and established that good progress was being made in the preparations. New nuclear capacities are vital for secure energy supplies in Hungary, and the government will therefore continue to prevent any sanctions affecting nuclear energy, he added.

He said he had also informed Novak about recent talks with the Framatome company aiming to ensure that despite the blocking efforts by the German government, western European control technology should be installed in the new power station.

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BREAKING: Hungary’s Parliament ratifies Finland’s NATO bid – UPDATE

Hungarian lawmakers on Monday voted to ratify Finland’s NATO accession.

Parliament approved Finland’s bid with 182 votes in favour and 6 against.

Finland applied to join the military alliance in the wake of the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The right-wing ,used to be anti-communist party Our Homeland (Mi Hazánk), which often defends Russia’s interests, voted against in parliament, that it would be a provocation to expand the military alliance on Russia’s border, while the neutral zone is an international interest. But there is no neutral zone. Russia’s land border is nearly 20 000 kilometers long, and one-sixteenth of this (1,215 kilometers) is shared with NATO members.

If Finland’s NATO accession is finalised, the border between NATO and Russia will be even longer. Belarus has also joined Russia militarily, so the Belarusian border could be a collision zone in a possible major conflict.

As we wrote before, the Hungarian Parliament has still not voted on Sweden’s accession. Here is why Hungary blocks Sweden’s NATO accession, the government explained. Details HERE.

  • read also: Ukraine taking revenge on Hungary? This decision will hurt, read details HERE.

UPDATE

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin on Monday evening thanked Hungary for ratifying her country’s NATO bid.

“Thank you for the clear decision!” Marin said on Twitter.

She also spoke out in favour of Sweden’s swift accession to the alliance.

“The NATO memberships of Finland and Sweden strengthen the security of the entire alliance,”

she said. “It is in everyone’s interest that Sweden also become a NATO member before the Vilnius summit.”

Ukraine taking revenge on Hungary? This decision will hurt

President Zelensky Ukraine revenge

Ukraine plans to double the transit price of crude oil flowing from Russia to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic through the Druzhba pipeline. Many say that is Ukraine’s revenge on Hungary.

According to the Argus news agency, the pipeline’s operator, the Ukrtransnafta, would like to double the transit price again. The sources of the Kommersant Russian news outlet confirmed that information. The new price will be EUR 27.2/tonne from 1 April. Experts believe buying Russian crude oil will remain worth more for Eastern European consumers than other alternatives.

Kyiv says the reason is the growing price of infrastructure rebuilding. They regularly need to mend the pipeline because of the intensive Russian attacks. If the Ukrainians accept the plan, this will be the second significant increase this year. Before, the price grew by 18.3 percent to EUR 13.6/tonnes.

Sources of the Kommersant talk about a relationship between Kyiv’s decision and the Hungarian government’s political stance concerning the war and the purchase of Russian energy like crude oil.

But Hungary has to pay more even for the transit of Arab oil flowing through the Adria pipeline from Croatia’s Krk island.

Hungary MPs want reassurance before vote on Sweden’s NATO accession

Hungarian MPs are waiting for reassurance from Swedish government members in order to be able to support Sweden’s NATO accession with a large majority, similarly to Finland’s accession bid, the prime minister’s political director said on Sunday. Balázs Orbán told public radio that “it is clear as day that we support Sweden’s accession, with the government having already passed a decision, and it is now up to parliament, but there is a little problem”. “Some Hungarian MPs do not feel comfortable because they have witnessed in recent years that certain Swedish government members made a habit of continually questioning the state of democracy in Hungary, they kept insulting Hungarian voters and MPs, and through them the whole of Hungary,” he said.

Orbán said Hungary did not want to take a position in matters of Swedish domestic political affairs and expects the same from Sweden concerning Hungarian issues. “Hungarian MPs are waiting for reassurance that there are no political debates between them anymore and there are no problems with the basics of Hungarian-Swedish cooperation,” he added. In the case of Finland, there is a “unique historic friendship and alliance,” he said. “It seems that we have managed to get reassurance from the Finns that these problems will not persist in the future” but in the case of Sweden, there is a different situation, he added.

Commenting on the Russian-Ukraine war, he said there would be only losers in this war and Europe’s as well as Hungary’s interest lied in a ceasefire and peace talks to start as soon as possible. Commenting on the armed conflict, which was the highlighted topic of the European summit this week, he said Hungary supported the proposals on developing defence cooperation so that member states could protect themselves against any form of military threat. However, it refuses to allow weapons from Hungary to make their way to the Ukrainian-Russian frontier as a result of this cooperation, he added.

“We support the joint acquisition of weapons but only the Hungarian army and Hungarian soldiers will receive them, so we maintain the principle that we do not participate in the conflict by way of arms deliveries,” he said.

NATO Hungary American newspaper
Read alsoExpert: Hungary endangers the NATO, the alliance will use force

Hungary started to replace Russian gas and could go even further

geothermal energy

Despite the Hungarian government’s stance on the importance of Russian raw materials, Hungary started to diversify its supply of natural gas. If Hungary wants to, it could be completely independent of Russian gas.

The Hungarian government campaigned tirelessly in the EU to get exemptions from the EU’s sanctions against Russia. It continues to do so with nuclear energy, but as G7 points out, the Hungarian economy started to use less and less Russian gas in 2022.

As the analysis of G7 argues, the diversification of gas supplies has been a desired goal for many years. Despite that, there has been little real progress in this area in recent years, either in Hungary or at the EU level.

Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 71 percent of natural gas coming to Hungary came through Ukraine from Russia. This could form a basis for the Hungarian government’s narrative that Russian gas is irreplaceable.

However, this situation already started to change in the autumn of 2021. That was when a new long-term agreement with Russia came into force, in which the Hungarian side agreed to buy from Gazprom via Serbia instead of Ukraine. As G7 argues, this was more significant for the Ukrainians, who were thus deprived of the transit fee for the gas.

The Serbian route did not fully replace the Ukrainian, but it gave a kickstart for the diversification that became a must after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Previously, in case of disruption, Hungary supplied its needs from Slovak and Austrian pipelines, also partly with Russian gas.

Diversification begins with great force

“Last year, 1 billion cubic metres of gas arrived in Hungary from both Romania and Croatia, which is a significant increase compared to the previous year, meaning that a diversification of supply sources has already started in 2022,” said Gábor Szokodi, FGSZ Trade and Business Development Director at the conference of the Hungarian Energy Traders Association. This means that Hungary’s supply from previously underutilised gas routes more than doubled in 2022.

Experts who spoke to G7, said that Russian gas is clearly not coming from Croatia, while the gas imported from Romania might originate from Russia. But this is not necessarily the case there either, as Hungary’s neighbour has a “significant” amount of its own production.

Overall, according to the calculations of G7, in one year, Hungary replaced 10-15 percent of its Russian gas import with alternative sources. Moreover, experts say that Hungary achieved that by only using a “fraction of the capacity of the pipelines concerned”.

All this indicates that there is a very real chance to replace Russian gas, or at least to diversify the sources of supply in a meaningful way. But as G7 warns, the question remains whether there is “political and commercial will to do so”.

Read alsoHungary bought most Russian gas when prices peaked

End of historic friendship? Polish people no longer like Hungarians

Poland Hungary friendship

A Polish pollster asked the citizens how likeable they find Hungarians, but results are deeply disappointing.

According to index.hu, Hungarians never were so unsympathetic as they are now, CBOS, a Polish pollster in the market since 1982, found in their latest survey. Only the Russians fell harder than the Hungarians. The sample is representative, containing 982 people.

Polish people were affected by the Russian attack on Ukraine. In the case of the Americans, the positive attitude of the citizens reached historic heights. Meanwhile, their attitude towards the Russians is at a historic low. But it seems the Russians dragged Hungarians considering trends.

68 percent of the Polish people sympathised with Americans, followed by the Italians and British. On the other end of the list are the Russians scoring only 6 percent on the positive end, and 82 percent on the negative end. Arabs and Romas are just a bit more sympathetic to the Polish.

Only 36 percent think that Hungarians are sympathetic, 29 percent are neutral, and 27 percent developed a negative attitude towards us. In 2022, we were in third place with a 57 percent positive attitude. Meanwhile, only 9 percent of the Polish citizens found Hungarians unsympathetic. In the last 30 years, these are the worst data considering Hungarians, CBOS said.

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Read alsoFormer Polish leader: Hungary is half out of the EU!

Financial Times: The French will put an end to the Putin-Orbán nuclear friendship? – UPDATED

Orbán Macron France

Of course, PM Viktor Orbán or Russian President Putin never said they were friends. But, among others, they met each year before the war in Ukraine, and Russians got the Paks nuclear power plant extension project for a lot of money. Furthermore, the Hungarian government keeps talking about the importance of peace, which momentarily means that the Ukrainians should lay down their weapons and accept the Russian invasion. Will the French terminate the good relationship of the two leaders? UPDATE: Read Russian Rosatom’s reaction in the issue below.

Hungary-Russia: a special relationship

PM Orbán and his government condemned the Russian invasion in Ukraine but always highlighted the rightful security claims of Russia and President Putin. They voted for all of the EU sanctions but were able to take off some Russian businessmen and clerics from the EU’s sanctions lists. The Western allies keep talking about the importance of arms deliveries to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Orbán said Hungary would never transport weapons for Kyiv because Budapest does not want to escalate the conflict.

Voices about seceding from the Russian energy deliveries are the strongest in the West, but Hungary keeps buying Russian oil and gas even though the purchase price is very high. However, it seems there are some cracks on the unique Hungarian-Russian relationship.

According to the Financial Times, Hungary started negotiations with France. The aim is to replace the Russians with the French regarding the Paks nuclear power plant extension project, the British paper wrote.

Orbán will kick out the Russians for the French?

Viktor Orbán met Emmanuel Macron last week in Paris, and they discussed a nuclear cooperation and the state of the extension project. High ranking government officials told FT that the Hungarian government started to rethink the project, which costs EUR 12 billion, financed from a Russian loan. Furthermore, the partners are Russia and the country’s Rosatom, 24.hu wrote.

Here are some photos about Orbán’s visit in Paris where he met with incumbent President Marcon and President Sarkozy. In the post, he wrote that Huns are in Paris:

A subcontractor of the Russian nuclear giant in Hungary is the French reactor manufacturing company, Framatome, which will deliver the new plant’s control system in cooperation with the German Siemens. Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister for foreign affairs and trade, announced that the cabinet would like to increase the role of the French company in the project.

Balázs Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister’s political director, said there was an ongoing debate concerning the reimagination of the Paks extension project because the situation became more complicated after the war started. Interestingly, Hungary and France vetoed together the EU’s direct sanctions against the Rosatom. But Financial Times says the pressure is growing in that respect.

The political director added that changing the original plans would push the project back by years. However, experts believe the longer the war and the sanctions last, the more probable the Russian participation’s end becomes. However, it is not clear yet whether that means a new partner or a new plant.

A French official highlighted both sides are open for a closer cooperation. But nobody knows how that intention would materialise.

UPDATE: Russian Rosatom reacted (03.26.)

Lóránt Kóti, the communications leader of the Rosatom in Hungary, sent a statement on the issue to Portfólió. He wrote that the Russian company is ready to work on the project and hopes their cooperation with the Hungarian partners can continue.

Paks Nuclear Plant Hungary
Read alsoWhat’s going on? Production at Paks nuclear plant down half