Serbia

New energy deal: Hungary to store Serbia’s gas

Alaksandar Vucic and Péter Szijjártó energy Serbia

Hungary and Serbia have reached an energy deal for ensuring both countries’ energy security which is more comprehensive and significant than any agreement signed hitherto, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Belgrade on Friday.

At a joint press conference held with Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, Szijjártó noted “unbelievable global uncertainty”, with a world economy in the process of undergoing transformation and sanctions “shaking fundamental truths”.

A few years ago, no one would have expected the main point of contention in energy procurement talks would not be price but the very possibility of purchasing a sufficient quantity of energy, and no one expected energy supply security to be such a critical issue. In two contracts, Serbia has now entered an alliance which “guarantees secure and predictable energy supply to our countries under all circumstances,” he said.

In line with one of the contracts, Serbia will acquire gas via Hungary and will store in Hungary 500 million cubic metres of natural gas in the upcoming winter season,

he said.

Hungary and Serbia already maintained excellent cooperation in the area of natural gas, with a significant portion of natural gas supplies for Hungary arriving from the south, through Serbia, including 1.7 billion cubic metres this year, he said. The new agreement will ensure that Serbia has undisturbed natural gas supplies in the upcoming winter season and, at the same time, “confirms Hungary’s role in the area of secure energy supplies for the region,” he added.

Starting from July 1, natural gas purchased by Serbia will be stored in Hungary and from October 1, it will be supplied in daily portions of 3-6 million cubic metres.

In line with the other contract, the two countries will interconnect their electricity markets. “Hungary will therefore join a Serbian-Slovenian initiative that creates a joint regional energy exchange,” he said.

It will increase the size of the market, which usually results in lower prices and “which is very important to all of us in the current extremely uncertain situation”, he added.

Additionally, electricity transmission between the two countries will be faster and simpler, he said. The contract also includes increasing the capacity of the electricity cable linking the national networks, he added.

The current annual capacity of maximum 1,000 megawatts between the two countries will be increased by 500MW, with a new line to be built between Sándorfalva and Subotica (Szabadka) by the spring of 2028, he said.

“As a result, increased electricity capacities resulting from the Hungarian power market and ongoing investment projects in Serbia can also be utilised in each other’s interests,”

he said. Joint developments will be carried out in the field of renewable energy, and the contract also involves a considerable amount of Hungarian technology to be used in a nuclear power station development in Serbia, he said.

Szijjártó also held talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on issues affecting both countries, primarily concerning energy security and strategic partnership between the two countries.

Hungary lost 2/3rd of its territory 102 years ago: was it inevitable?

Hungary Trianon map

The peace treaty of Trianon, signed on June 4, 1920, is regarded as one of the greatest tragedies in Hungarian history. That is understandable since millions of Hungarians were separated from their motherland. Now, almost 2 million Hungarians live in Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, and Serbia, who still suffer disadvantages because of their nationality. Of course, the problems of ethnically mixed regions are not the specific challenge of the Carpathian Basin but of every country in Central-Europe to which the governments, NGOs, and citizens have to find answers in the future. But was it inevitable to lose 2/3rd of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1920?

Trianon, one of the greatest national tragedies

On June 4, 1920, life stopped for a minute everywhere in the “mutilated”, “small” Hungary. At 4.32 pm, two Hungarian officials, who planned no further political career, signed the Peace Treaty of Trianon at the Grand Trianon in Versailles. The Hungarian society regarded the act as one of the greatest tragedies in Hungary’s history, and everybody was shocked in the country even though the new borders were more or less known by then.

Hungary Peace Treaty of Trianon
The Hungarian delegation on their way to sign the Peace Treaty of Trianon. Photo: Wikimedia

Everybody asked why the great powers were so brutal with Hungary? Why did Hungary suffer the greatest territorial loss after WWI?

Legends were born about freemasons, the French president’s Hungarian daughter-in-law and Romanian prostitutes to explain the inexplicable collapse of “Greater Hungary”.

If we try to forget these and would like to find the real reasons, we should concentrate on at least three hubs of causes.

First, we should not forget the entente’s prime goal after WWI: weakening Germany. Every politician in Paris, London or Rome knew that Germany, despite their defeat, would remain a great power. To prevent Berlin from starting a war, the entente agreed they should destroy all their possible allies in Europe. That is why they decided to dismantle the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Hungary itself. They wanted to create a corridor around Germany that could stop Berlin’s future expansion.

As a result, Czechoslovakia, “Greater Romania” and Yugoslavia were born and received huge territories from Hungary with millions of Hungarians.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson wanted otherwise but realized already by 1918 that the high principle of the self-determination of people would be neglected at the peace conference. As a result, their delegation travelled home, and they never ratified the Peace Treaty of Trianon.

Trianon_consequences
The consequences of the peace treaty. Photo: Wikimedia

Armed resistance?

Second, the Central Powers, including Hungary, were defeated. Starvation, coal shortage, and the collapse of state institutions followed. Moreover, revolutions came one after the other between 1918 and 1920. The Károlyi government formed after the victorious Aster Revolution on October 31, 1918, started quick disarmament

to prevent a civil war or a Bolshevik-style coup d’état.

Furthermore, they thought that a new, pacifist and democratic Hungary would receive favourable terms in Paris. The people also believed in Károlyi since his good relations to French leaders were widely known. One of his fellow party member, for example, shouted in the parliament in 1918 that they were the friends of entente. Historians today state that provided Károlyi was a more characteristic leader committed to defending Hungary with armed forces, he could have saved 5-10,000 square kilometres more. But he could not have prevented losing huge territories anyway because of

the French plan of creating a corridor of Germany in the region.

The post-war period in Hungary was an apocalypse-like world. Therefore, the support for Károlyi and his governments faded away fast after the failures and the advancement of foreign armies. Károlyi wanted the Social-democratic Party to form a government since it had almost 1 million party members by early 1919. He did not know that Socialdemocratic leaders made a pact with Béla Kun’s Communists and when he realized, it was too late.

Trianon memorial in Békéscsaba
The Trianon memorial in Békéscsaba. Photo: Wikimedia

Even Western-Hungary lost

The formation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic on March 21, 1919, was a shock in Paris. As a result, the peace conference did not invite Hungary, though the final borders were determined in 1919 May when the Communist regime ruled in Budapest. 

Thanks to the Soviet Republic, Austria got Western-Hungary, today’s Burgenland. The aim of that decision was to make a viable Austria that does not inevitably have to join Germany. However, Austria was also defeated, but Hungary’s soviet republic solved that moral dilema.

The entente’s decision on Western Hungary was corrected only once, in 1921 December in the Sopron plebiscite. Sopron and some settlements decided to remain part of Hungary.

To sum it all up, the partition of Hungary was inevitable after the Central Power’s defeat in WWI.

The Red Map
The “Red Map” showing Hungarians with red colour. Photo: Wikimedia
parliament hungary
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Shocking: here’s the fuel price for cars with foreign licence plates – one exception

Fuel Hungary Austria expensive

Starting from Friday midnight, cars with foreign licence plates cannot buy fuel at the capped price of HUF 480. There is one exception, though.

The new regulation

Gergely Gulyás announced at Thursday’s Cabinet Briefing that from Friday, cars with foreign licence plates will be banned from buying fuel at the HUF 480 (EUR 1.22) price. The decree was published in Magyar Közlöny at 11:59 pm last night. This meant that petrol stations had two minutes to figure out how to operate under the new rules.

As Blikk reports, the most important rule is that

from Friday, only cars with Hungarian registration plates can buy petrol or diesel at the official price of HUF 480 per litre.

There is one exception

However, the government decision also made an unexpected exception.

If fuel is officially priced (hatósági áras) in a foreign country, the car with the registration number of that country can also fill up with fuel at the official price in Hungary,

provided that the car with a Hungarian registration number can fill up at the official price there. The list of countries concerned will be published in a decree by the minister responsible for foreign policy, according to a summary of the provision published in Magyar Közlöny late on Thursday.

In other words, where there is also an official price for fuel, and it applies to Hungarian drivers, cars from that country will be able to benefit from the HUF 480 capped price. This means that, right now, cars with Serbian and Slovenian registration plates may form an exception.

Official price of fuel in Slovenia and Serbia

According to Blikk, in Slovenia, the price cap came into force on 10 May: the Slovenian Ministry of Economy set the retail price of EuroSuper 95 at EUR 1.560 and the wholesale price at EUR 1.540; the retail price of EuroDiesel is at EUR 1.668, and the wholesale price is at EUR 1.648. In Serbia, the government sets a monthly ceiling for the new fuel price: currently, the EuroSuper is EUR 1.528, and the retail price of EuroDiesel is EUR 1.715.

The last “foreign raid” on petrol stations

According to a Telex reader, half an hour before midnight, there was a queue of cars with Slovak licence plates at a Győr petrol station: they were waiting to fill their cars with fuel at the official price. Meanwhile, the station workers had no idea how they would technically manage the two prices. Their first decision was to turn away foreigners and not allow them to fill up at all after midnight.

fifth_orbán_government_hungary
Read also Here are the details about the newly introduced windfall taxes!

Hungarian FM: Threats to close transit routes of energy supplies undermines EU unity

szijjártó péter foreign minister

Threats to close the transit routes of crude oil and natural gas threaten the European Union’s unity and severely undermine solidarity between member states, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday, after talks with the Serbian finance minister.

Szijjártó told a joint press conference with Sinisa Mali that such a threat “has surfaced in some EU communications”, and that Hungary sees it as a

“severe attack on our sovereignty, energy security and security interests.”

Regarding the EU proposal to sanction Russian crude imports, Szijjártó warned that Hungary would not vote for such a scheme until it threatens the country’s energy security.

Hungary and Serbia have agreed to continue to guarantee safe transit routes for each other, the foreign ministry cited Szijjártó as saying.

Further, Hungary will allow Serbia to use Hungarian gas storage facilities to secure their supplies for the winter, he said.

The war has increased the importance of cooperation between Serbia and Hungary, he said. Hungary receives 10 million cubic meters of gas via Serbia daily, and has transported 458 million cubic meters there this year, he said.

Hungary and Serbia have also agreed to double the connections of their electric grids within the next 6-8 years, he said.

karácsony gergely mayor budapest
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President: ties between motherland, Hungarians outside of borders ‘inseverable’

President Katalin Novák in Transylvania, Romania

President Katalin Novák said the ties between the motherland and Hungarians living outside of the country’s borders are “inseverable”, speaking at the unveiling of a statue of Gábor Bethlen, the prince of Transylvania in its golden age, in Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár) on Saturday.

“We will never sever the umbilical cord between the motherland and the Hungarians torn away, and we will never let it be severed,” Novák said. “Gábor Bethlen and the golden age of Transylvania will not be let go, so too we will not let go of each other,” she added.

Novák said that Hungarians living in Transylvania can play a role in Romania’s advancement if they preserve their identity.

More foreign leaders congratulate Orbán on re-election

The prime ministers of Belgium, Malta, the Czech Republic and Romania, and the president of Serbia have congratulated Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on his re-election, the PM’s press chief said on Saturday. Alexander de Croo pointed to further opportunities to develop bilateral ties between Hungary and Belgium. He noted that the sides would need to work together when Hungary takes over from Belgium the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2024.

Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela stressed the importance of continued cooperation in the European Council based on “shared priorities and interests”.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala welcomed Hungary’s solidarity with Europe on the matter of Ukraine and acknowledged that the war has made the issue of energy security “among the most important challenges” facing Europe.

Nicolae Ciuca, the prime minister of Romania, highlighted the importance of deepening cooperation within NATO and the EU.

Aleksandar Vucic said in his congratulatory letter that Serbia and Hungary would “continue to fight for the shared values and interests of their citizens”.

Hungarian ice hockey fans Romania
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Orbán in Serbia: farm workers will be the heroes of 2022!

Viktor Orbán Serbia Alaksandar Vucic

Hungary and Serbia can count on each other, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the opening of the 89th International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad (Ujvidek) on Saturday.

Sharing the stage with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the fair, where Hungary is the guest of honour, Orban noted that both Hungary and Serbia are strong in agriculture and said the countries are “an important food reserve for Europe”.

He said inflation, the threat of famine in various parts of the world and armed clashes in Ukraine have become the focus of attention, even though both political leaders would “deserve some carefree relaxation under normal circumstances” after recent election victories.

He warned that famine could spark a wave of migration that makes previous ones “pale in comparison” as people leave their homes for Europe not only in hope of a better life, but for survival.

He recalled that the two countries’ upgrade of the rail line linking Belgrade and Budapest had been criticised by many, but now the value of the investment has appreciated as delivery routes across Ukraine have become uncertain.

He added that while doctors and nurses were the heroes of 2020 and 2021,

farm workers would be the heroes of 2022.

Orbán said the war in Ukraine had put both countries in difficult positions: Serbia, because it isn’t a member of the European Union, and Hungary because it is.

He added that Hungary and Serbia would coordinate their positions and support each other in international forums no matter what debates may come, inside or outside the EU. Orbán said Hungary would not accept any decision by Brussels that is “economically unreasonable” and that would raise prices to the point that utilising the farm sector’s full capacity becomes impossible. He added that

Hungary’s farm sector, “if well managed”, can supply double the country’s population with food.

Hungarian grain
Read alsoDespite restrictions, Hungarian grain continues to go abroad

Couple hid 50kg of illicit drugs next to their one-year-old child in Budapest – video

hungary police

The National Investigation Bureau (NNI) has seized over 50kg of illicit drugs of Serbian origin with a street value of 150 million forints (EUR 387,000) from a Hungarian couple living in Budapest and a dealer, police.hu said on Wednesday.

An operation carried out on Monday in the couple’s flat uncovered 39kg of marijuana treated with a precursor and 9kg of hashish and amphetamine, as well as machines used for packing the drugs into plastic bags, the police portal said.

The investigation also revealed that P. Igor was distributing and selling the drugs in the apartment where he lived with his 23-year-old wife and their daughters, aged 1 and 16.

He sometimes passed the drugs on in large quantities to members of the trafficking network below him.

He even ignored his own family, carrying out his various business activities in their presence.

His wife knew about his drug deals to such an extent that the marijuana blocks were stored in her sewing room, next to a child’s car seat.

In the operation, a dealer, a 30-year-old man identified as Krisztián K, was caught at a junction in Budapest and 5kg of marijuana was seized from his car.

The two men have been taken into custody and the 23-year-old wife is free on bail.

The officers also seized two high-value cars, police.hu said.

Hungary police drug
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Meeting of EU foreign ministers: this is the latest Hungarian position on the oil embargo – UPDATE

szijjártó

Current proposals regarding the European Commission’s sixth sanctions package against Russia in respect of gas and oil supplies are unacceptable, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in Brussels during a break in a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Hungary has proposed exempting oil pipeline deliveries in the case of an EU oil embargo, the minister told Hungarian journalists. This, he added, would be the simplest solution, meeting the needs of Brussels without putting countries that receive oil by pipeline “in an extremely difficult position”, he added.

Szijjártó vowed that the Hungarian government would never let Hungarians pay the price of war in terms of their security, be it physical, energy or economic.

The European Commission, “while it is aware of Hungary’s interests, its sensitive points and its position, has made a proposal that inherently involves the possibility of compromising EU unity,”

Szijjártó said. The proposal could mean “no less than a nuclear bomb for the Hungarian economy”, and if passed “the country and its economy would become impossible to operate in a physical sense”, he said.

Concerning the economic and environmental aspects of the proposal, Szijjarto said:

“Brussels expects Hungary to invest many hundreds of millions of euros in its crude oil infrastructure” while urging the abandonment of fossil fuels and promoting renewables. “Could anyone seriously think that we should make an investment of 280 billion forints just to increase the price of fuels by 55-60 percent and contribute to general inflation?” he said.

Threatening to shut down pipelines “is unacceptable”, Szijjártó said. “It is unacceptable that some are seeking to make the lives of innocent people difficult through such measures, cutting off energy from countries that are not to blame for the war,” he said. “It is legitimate to expect such measures not to be taken,” he added.

As we wrote today, currently the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL makes a huge revenue from Russian oil, this is how.

Minister made important announcements in New York concerning gas transit to Hungary

Péter Szijjártó United Nations gas transit

The Bulgarian and Serbian ministers in charge of energy affairs have confirmed that Russian gas supplies through Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia to Hungary were undisturbed and in line with contract, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade said in New York on Wednesday.

Péter Szijjártó said the Serbian minister had assured him that the contracted volume of gas arrived in Serbia and would partly be forwarded to Hungary, the foreign ministry quoted Péter Szijjártó as saying. Szijjártó said that Bulgarian energy minister Alexander Nikolov had confirmed to him that the contracts on transits would continue to be observed.

Checking the situation personally on Wednesday afternoon CET, Szijjártó found that everything was on schedule with the supply of daily 10 million cubic metres of gas to Hungary.

“For the time being, the operation of the transit route seems to be undisturbed but we will closely monitor the situation and keep in touch with our Bulgarian, Serbian and Russian counterparts,”

he said.

  • Read also: 

Szijjártó reiterated that a significant part of gas supplies arrived in Hungary on the southern route and so it was a major development that Gazprom had recently stopped supplies to Poland and Bulgaria.

However, operator of the Bulgarian network Bulgartransgaz has confirmed that transit supplies would continue to operate regardless of the move, he said.

Gazprom has also confirmed that gas to Serbia and Hungary would continue to be supplied over the pipeline, he added.

Péter Szijjártó United Nations gas transit
Read also Minister made important announcements in New York concerning gas transit to Hungary

Minister: the Budapest-Belgrade railway will have been renewed by 2025!

Hungary Budapest-Belgrade railway

Serbia’s Hungarian minority has “demonstrated that their mother country can count on them”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Subotica (Szabadka) on Tuesday, citing “record” turnout at the polls in Hungary’s recent general election.

“We promise they can also rely on us in the coming period,” the minister said. Szijjártó noted that the 60,900 votes cast in Subotica on April 3 were one and a half times as many as in the previous election in 2018.

“Vojvodina Hungarians have helped to ensure that Hungary’s national government can carry on,”

he said. He asked Serbian Hungarians for their support, adding that this would contribute to “the friendship between Hungarians and Serbs based on a historic reconciliation, which the Hungarian community of Vojvodina benefits most”.

Concerning the election, Szijjártó welcomed that “no party alliance in the history of Hungarian democracy has ever received as many votes as we have — over 3 million votes — and we have never had as many deputies in parliament as we are going to have.” He noted that the recent election had also seen the highest number of votes from Hungarians abroad so far.

The vote was of “historic significance” because voters “had to make their choice between peace, security and being dragged into the war”,

he said, adding that voters were clearly anti-war.

Szijjártó said the government valued “every member of the Hungarian nation” voting in the election, adding that “the left would strip Hungarians across the border of that right”. The Hungarian government will go on with its economic promotion programme in Vojvodina, the minister said, adding that the scheme had so far facilitated investment projects worth a combined 167 billion forints in that province.

Answering a question, he said strategic projects under way would be continued. The Budapest-Belgrade railway will have been renewed by 2025, and the line linking Subotica and Szeged, in southern Hungary, will be opened before the end of this year, he said, adding that the Budapest-Belgrade line’s significance would increase in light of the war in Ukraine because “goods from Greek ports could reach Western Europe via that route”.

Szijjártó said Hungary had supported every single European sanctions package against Russia,

but placing sanctions on oil and gas imports would impose a disproportionately high burden on Hungary and in effect hobble the country’s ability to function.

Hungary asked appealed to the EU not to make proposals aimed at restricting gas or oil supplies from Russia in the interest of maintaining European unity, he said, adding that several other EU member states shared Hungary’s position.

Szijjártó noted his own efforts to ensure that aspirants for EU membership such as Serbia should also be exempted from the sanctions concerning Russian energy supplies, adding that those efforts had been successful. Switching over to different suppliers could take years because “you cannot find new routes and new [oil and gas] fields overnight”, he said.

Meanwhile, he hailed the outcome of Serbia’s latest election in which Vojvodina’s Hungarian VMSZ party won enough seats in to form its own parliamentary group and President Aleksandar Vucic, supported by the Hungarian community, won another term.

VMSZ leader István Pásztor said his party had aimed to contribute to the victory of Hungary’s ruling parties at the election and it had sought to retain its parliamentary position in Serbia, and, in addition, it strived to ensure that Vucic continued as Serbia’s president. “All three goals have been realised,” he said.

He said he would soon discuss with Szijjártó next steps in their cooperation “to continue joint efforts”. “We have retained the axis built in recent years. Hungary-Serbia ties can continue unbroken in the coming period, which could be a top priority for us in view of the times we live in,” Pasztor said.

MÁV, KISS, Nyugati, train, Hungary
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This is why several malls received bomb threats in Hungary!

budapest_shopping_mall_duna_pláza

Almost all Budapest shopping malls and some in other parts of Hungary received bomb threats via e-mail on Tuesday, and the police had to evacuate the buildings in all instances to guarantee the safety of civilians.

It is possible that this was part of an international campaign that took place a day earlier in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.

At first, the readers of 444 informed the news outlet that there was a bomb threat at the Arena Mall in Budapest on Kerepesi Street. The police arrived at the scene and evacuated everybody from the mall late afternoon on Tuesday.

One of Origo’s colleagues reported from Árkád that the mall played the following message through their loudspeaker:

“Due to a malfunction, the mall will close in a few minutes. Please follow the instructions of our staff members. Leave the building the shortest possible way, and leave your vehicles in the parking lot.”

Shortly after, many other shopping malls received the same message. The following shopping centres were affected in Budapest:

  • Arena Mall
  • MOM Park
  • Mammut
  • Corvin Plaza
  • Árkád
  • Westend

Four other establishments also received similar threats in Kaposvár, Győr, and Debrecen, where the directorate of MÁV (the leading railway company in Hungary) was also reported to be involved.

Magyar Hang managed to reach out to one of the employees of the regional malls involved, who wanted to remain anonymous but told the news outlet some details about the events on Tuesday.

The employee said that the message was sent to them via e-mail, and they must have received it as a Bcc or “blind carbon copy”, as the main addressee was the sender itself.

“The message came from a Gmail email address at around quarter past three in the afternoon. There is a Hungarian name in the e-mail address, but it is definitely fictitious. We received the letter in such a way that the sender addressed the letter to himself,” the employee told Magyar Hang.

“There is a bomb in the building. I cannot live in a country that is sponsoring the terrorist Putin and that places cheap gas before human life,” read the message.

The news portal tried to find out whether this was the same message that was sent to every mall, but the manager of one of the Budapest shopping centres only answered with a cryptic “it is possible”.

Magyar hang also inquired at the Hungarian Police Headquarters, but they answered that the investigation is still ongoing and that they cannot give out information in such cases.

However, there are a few possibilities. Szabad Magyar Szó reported that on Monday, several Serbian shopping malls, the Nikola Tesla Airport, and the company Air Serbia also reported that they received bomb threats from a Protonmail address, a company which is known for its secure and encrypted e-mail service.

Szabad Magyar Szó reported that the police found no signs of any explosives in the affected buildings. According to the information of the Serbian police, the threats might have come from within a European country and Ukraine.

The Hungarian Police similarly found no evidence of any explosives.

Magyar Hang reports that there is a possibility that the threats came from the secret service of Ukraine, but there is no hard evidence to support this. The so-called “false flag” tactic is also a possibility, but it could have simply been the effort of a simple citizen, the news outlet contemplates.

Read alsoPro-Russian march to be organised in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square!

Hungarian Gripens scrambled because of bomb threat on Serbian aircraft!

gripen hungary

Hungarian Gripen fighter jets were scrambled by NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre on Friday afternoon because of a bomb threat on a Serbian-registered passenger aircraft flying from Saint Petersburg to Belgrade, the defence ministry told MTI.

The Gripens escorted the A319 aircraft out of Hungarian airspace, the ministry said.

The jets were alerted for a second time on Friday afternoon for a similar reason, when a Moscow-Belgrade flight reported a bomb threat. The aircraft, also an A319, registered in Serbia, was escorted out of Hungarian airspace, the ministry said in a statement.

Russian plane Hungary nuclear fuel
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Minister: Serbia “should have been admitted into the European Union yesterday”

Péter Szijjártó Serbia

Serbia “should have been admitted into the European Union yesterday”, but the bloc can still make things right “if the country joins tomorrow”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Szeged, in southern Hungary, on Wednesday.

At a joint press conference with Serbian counterpart Nikola Selakovic, Szijjártó praised the “excellent relations” between Hungary and Serbia, emphasising the efforts that had gone into “turning historic spite [between the countries] into a historic friendship”, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Both countries have benefitted immensely from this, Szijjártó said, adding that the outcomes of this past weekend’s elections in Hungary and Serbia allowed the countries to continue working together.

Szijjártó said bilateral trade turnover more than doubled in January.

Construction on the Budapest-Belgrade rail line is ongoing, the upgrade of the Szeged-Subotica (Szabadka) rail line is set to be completed by the end of the year, and two Hungarian investment projects in Serbia worth a combined 4 billion forints (EUR 10.7m) are also nearing completion, he said. Szijjártó also emphasised Serbia’s role in Hungary’s energy supply.

On another subject, Szijjártó said Hungary’s ruling alliance of Fidesz and the Christian Democrats had won a record number of votes in Sunday’s general election and would have a record number of seats in parliament. “A week ago everyone was saying that Fidesz would have no chance of winning in Szeged or other major cities,” he said.

He added that support for Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had also reached an all-time high in Sunday’s election, noting that the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMSZ) was one of Vucic’s backers and would have a group of its own in the Serbian national assembly. “These two historic victories clearly prove that it is right to represent national interests,” Szijjártó said. Asked about Russia seeking payment for gas deliveries in rubles, Szijjártó said that because the EU had no role in bilateral gas supply agreements, “how the contracting parties choose to amend [the agreement] is nobody else’s business”.

“We do not consider the European Commission’s intention for the countries that import Russian natural gas to give a joint response to be necessary,”

Szijjártó said.

Hungary’s first payment to Russia’s Gazprom will be due in May and the technicalities of a solution are currently being worked out, the minister said. “Hungary’s energy supply is secure and will remain secure,” he added.

As regards the decision to summon the Ukrainian ambassador, Szijjártó said the remarks made by Ukrainian officials on the Hungarian elections were “unacceptable”. “We understand that they are at war and that the suffering the Ukrainian people are having to endure is terrible,” Szijjártó said. “But this is no reason for them to be talking about the making of a totalitarian regime, for their diplomats to raise the issue of complicity in war crimes or to express regret over the outcome of the Hungarian election.”

The Hungarian people made their choice in a democratic election and everyone must respect the outcome, Szijjártó said. He said that although the remarks from

Ukrainian officials “crossed all lines”,

Hungary will continue taking in and caring for all Ukrainian refugees and will provide all the humanitarian assistance they need.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic
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Hungary Election 2022: Many more Hungarians with dual citizenship registered to vote than in 2018

hungary election 2022

The number of Hungarians with dual citizenship registering for Sunday’s election was much higher than in 2018, Árpád János Potápi, state secretary for ethnic Hungarian communities, told a press conference on Monday.

According to the official figures, 456,129 Hungarians with no permanent residency in Hungary registered to vote, 78,000 more than for the election four years ago, he said. The National Election Office (NVI) has so far received 307,202 votes, 34,653 posted directly, while most came via representative offices in neighbouring countries, he said, adding that the numbers were not final. He added that

the number of mail-in votes were up over 40,000 compared with the 2018 election.

Potápi congratulated István Pásztor, leader of Serbia’s ethnic Hungarian VMSZ party, for its “nice results” in Serbia’s elections held also on Sunday.

Pásztor welcomed the outcome of the Hungarian election, saying the fact that the next government will be formed by the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance was “crucial” for Vojvodina (Délvidék) Hungarians. He said

he “would be surprised if the ruling parties’ support were below 95 percent” in Vojvodina, adding that 20 percent of all mail-in votes by had come from Vojvodina.

Read more news about 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election

Serbian civilian aircraft intercepted by Hungarian Gripens

gripen-hungary

Hungarian Gripen fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Serbian civilian plane early Monday evening after a report of a bomb threat on board, the defence ministry told MTI.

The airliner travelling from Belgrade to St. Petersburg received the bomb threat over Poland, from where it was turned back, the ministry said. NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre then alerted the Gripen fighters of the Hungarian armed forces.

The Gripens identified the aircraft once it entered Hungarian airspace and escorted it to the Hungary-Serbia border.

The Gripens remained airborne near the border until the plane landed, the ministry said.

Hungary fall to bizarre own goal against Serbia – PHOTOS

Hungary football Serbia friendly

A first-half own goal from Zsolt Nagy handed Serbia their first ever victory against Hungary in a well-contested match in the Puskás Aréna on Thursday evening.

With June’s Nations League Division A fixtures firmly in his mind, Hungary head coach Rossi opted for a back three of Attila Fiola and Endre Botka either side of Ádám Lang, stationed behind a four-man midfield of Zsolt Nagy on the left, András Schäfer and Ádám Nagy in the centre and Loic Nego patrolling the right wing. Dominik Szoboszlai and Roland Sallai were tasked with providing creative impetus behind lone striker Ádám Szalai.

An even and open beginning to the game saw Hungary threaten first, Sallai’s right-footed cross from the left wing headed goalwards by Szalai,

only for Serbia goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to palm the ball away athletically and an offside flag to render Hungary’s hopes invalid.

Almost immediately, the visitors saw a spectacular goal from Kostic ruled out for push on a defender by Mitrovic and the closely contested nature of the game continued thereafter.

Serbia took the lead in bizarre circumstances in the 35th minute though, a Mitrovic shot from close range being superbly touched onto the crossbar by Gulácsi before the keeper and his teammate Zsolt Nagy contrived to get in each other’s way and bundle the ball over the Hungary goalline.

Hungary football Serbia friendly matchHungary football Serbia friendly matchHungary football Serbia friendly matchHungary football Serbia friendly matchHungary football Serbia friendly match

Zsolt Nagy was clearly keen to make up for his part in that concession and he did excellently down the left to find space for a cross which deflected up for Szalai on the right side of the penalty area in the 40th minute, but his volley was well off-target and Nego could barely deflect the ball any closer to goal on its way through.

That was as close as Hungary came to a goal in the first half and the attritional nature of the match continued after the break, neither able to string many passes together or seriously test their opposing goalkeeper.

That was until the 76th minute though, when Gulácsi instinctively stuck a foot out to block Mitrovic’s low shot after the Fulham striker had been sent in one on one by Serbia captain Dusan Tadic.

Minutes later, Szoboszlai chipped the ball infield from the right wing for Sallai to chest down and drive low just centrimetres wide of the left post. Substitute Callum Styles then blasted a shot wide from a tight angle as the hosts committed more and more men forward.

That was always likely to leave Hungary susceptible to the counter-attack though, and so it proved when another substitute, Nemanja Radonjic, broke clear in the right channel, but his low effort skidded wide of Gulácsi’s right post. There was one last opportunity for the home team though, Schäfer surging forward, exchanging passes with substitute Martin Ádám and rattling his shot against the near left post, the rebound being volleyed wide by Szoboszlai with the goal gaping.

Thus, Serbia edged to a single-goal victory which they just about deserved, if only for the fact that they had three shots on target while Hungary had none. Marco Rossi’s team will look to improve upon that statistic in their next fixture, another friendly away against Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

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Could Hungary’s gas supply hold? Here is the worst case scenario!

Natural Gas Refinery Gas Supply

Despite the ongoing war in its neighbourhood, Hungary’s energy supply is stable. Both natural gas and electricity demand are fully covered by domestic systems. Still, competent authorities are prepared for every scenario.

In mid-March, the Moldovan and Ukrainian energy systems were successfully connected to the continental European system to help supply energy to the regions. Ukraine was disconnected from the Russian and Belarusian networks for a long-planned test run on the very day the war broke out (24th February), but the reconnection could not take place.

Ukraine’s original plan was to be connected to the European synchronous system in 2024, until then it would have been tested to see if it can independently maintain the 50 Hz, a prerequisite for European connectivity. However, the war changed the scenario and the two-year preparation period was reduced to two weeks – reported by Magyar Nemzet.

The European system operators and regulators have been working hard to find a solution to the technical and regulatory issues of interconnection and to meet the two countries’ emergency synchronisation requests.

Finally, on 16th March, the trial synchronisation of the European system and the Ukrainian and Moldovan systems could start, which will greatly support the stability of the Ukrainian-Moldovan electricity system and the security of the population’s supply. As the Hungarian news portal Blikk reports, further hard work is needed to maintain the power balance of the electricity system, and the costs of emergency synchronisation will have to be shared between the European Member States.

Hungary

In Hungary, the gas demand is met by the combination of domestic production and imports. The latter is constantly monitored and the contracted quantities of gas are currently being delivered through six interconnectors.

In addition, there are also 1.25 billion cubic metres of gas in storage.

This level is more than sufficient for the season. Out of this, 900 million is the strategic stock that might remain untouched this year, based on the foreseen scenarios. „Considering the principle of solidarity, we should help our neighbours if their population is in trouble with the natural gas supply, but only if the help does not cause any disadvantage to the Hungarian population.

But so far, no such request has been received from anywhere,”- said Pál Ságvári, Vice President for International Relations of the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH),

The expert also pointed out that the gas currently being transported outwards on the Ukrainian-Hungarian gas pipelines, is from the West and not from Hungary’s storage facilities.

Worst-case scenario

Although the Ukrainian backbone network has not been damaged so far, Hungary is prepared for every possible scenario. Since October, Hungary has been receiving significant quantities of gas from Austria and Slovakia. In addition, gas from the LNG terminal in Croatia or the Turkish Stream going through the Serbian-Hungarian pipeline could be an additional source.

We should not forget the 900 million cubic metres of strategic stock either which was mentioned previously. Further good news is that the Greek-Bulgarian pipeline will be ready for the next heating season that will bring gas from Turkey and the Caspian Sea region.

The vice president pointed out that

Hungary has made significant infrastructure developments in the field of natural gas in recent years, and has gas pipeline connections with six of its seven neighbours.

Nevertheless, Russian gas is flowing in all of them, so we need to work on its long-term replacement. To this end, initiatives have been launched at EU level on voluntary joint purchasing of gas and mandatory 90 per cent refilling of storage facilities.

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Confusing! Hungary mixed up with Serbia by American CNN – PHOTO

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The American CNN was reporting on the Russian-Ukrainian war, when the news-based channel published a map showing Hungary as Serbia.

It is internationally known that Hungary plays an important role as a neighbour of Ukraine in providing humanitarian assistance to refugees. Despite all this, it seems that the positioning of Hungary causes some difficulties overseas. And this is not the first time.

As the Hungarian news portal Origo reports, the world-renowned pro-democracy

CNN has published a “map” on which Hungary is presented as Serbia.

In addition, it does not show “Serbia” near the Serbian-Hungarian border, but in the north-eastern part of the country, near the Slovakian and Ukrainian borders.
The latest CNN blunder was spotted by Peter Murphy, a correspondent for the French news agency AFP in Budapest who also shared a photo on his Twitter page.

As reported by Origo, last month an American Democratic House Speaker spoke about Russia’s encirclement of Hungary. Presumably by mistake, the veteran politician gave the false impression that Russia was attacking Hungary, instead of Ukraine.

Sadly, this is not the first time that Hungary is mixed up with a neighbouring country. As we previously reported, last September, almost the whole world had its eyes on Budapest due to Pope Francis’ visit. Therefore, it was quite startling that the world-famous American journal The New York Times mixed up the Hungarian capital with Bucharest and reported on its official Facebook page that the head of the Christian church visited Romania. The mistake had been corrected more than 14 hours after the article was published.

Another similar confusion has been noticed by Peter Murphy which can be seen on the second photo of his Twitter post.

Namely, the French public broadcaster BFM has mixed up Hungary with Romania.

The photo clearly shows that the channel presented Romania as two separate countries (in green and purple), forgetting about Hungary – which along with France – is also a member of the European Union.

In addition, there is even more confusion regarding the positioning of Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Serbia, all of which were presented as Bulgaria.

It seems, reporters at the French TV channel and overseas still have room for improvement when it comes to Europe’s geography.

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