“In Central Europe, energy supply is an issue of security, and accordingly the time has come to put an end to doublespeak and to make it clear that progress will only be made with relation to Central Europe’s energy security if the required infrastructure development projects are realised using American or European Union financing”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Wednesday.
The Minister is meeting with U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in Washington, and this is his second meeting with a member of the American administration within the past 6 weeks, he told the press. In addition, he also met with the Israeli Energy Minister, will be holding a lecture at the World Gas conference, and will be holding talks with the leaders of the world’s largest international energy corporations.
Mr. Szijjártó stressed that the major players in global politics talk a lot about Central Europe’s energy security and the need to do away with one-sided dependency, but the major infrastructure investments realised using European or American financing, which would truly enable the security of Europe’s energy supply, are missing.
While the United States or the European Union do not provide assistance for major Central European infrastructure development projects, having natural gas from the U.S. or from anywhere else in the world play a part in Central Europe’s energy supply “will just remain a dream”, the Minister said. “Accordingly, it is important for the age of doublespeak and the application of double standards to come to an end and for the major players in global politics to stop regarding the security of Central Europe’s energy supply as a card they can play in geopolitical power games”, he said.
Mr. Szijjártó said that in his view pressure must be increased on countries within the region that are violating bilateral and European commitments and failing to assure the two-way flow of natural gas via interconnectors. “Such countries include Romania and Croatia”, he added.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also said it was important for international pressure to be maintained in the interests of assuring that Romania begins the extraction of natural gas on the Black Sea from 2022. “In addition, international pressure must also be maintained to assure that LNG terminals are finally constructed in the vicinity of Central Europe”, he pointed out.
“However, it is an encouraging development that Israel and Egypt have found major new gas fields in their own maritime territories, which provide an opportunity to also be able to count on Israeli gas fields with relation to Central Europe’s energy supply from 2024”, Mr Szijjártó stated. “Israel is prepared to consider exporting some of this gas to Central Europe”, he said.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)
