Orbán on phone with Slovak PM Fico: Hungarian and Slovakian experts may examine the Druzhba oil pipeline

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Friday announced the establishment of a Hungary-Slovakia investigative committee to clarify the status of the Druzhba oil pipeline. After speaking with his Slovakian counterpart, Orbán said the committee would be tasked with examining the situation on the ground.

In a video uploaded to Facebook, Orbán called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to allow Hungarian and Slovak inspectors in and ensure full access and the means to carry out their work. Then, he should restart the pipeline, he emphasised.

The blockade by “Zelensky and Ukraine” was dangerous not only for Hungary, but for Slovakia, too, he insisted. Zelensky’s claims that there were technical obstacles to restarting the pipeline did not correspond to what Slovakia and Hungary knew of reality, he said, adding that the pipeline had been shut down purely for political reasons.

Cheap energy needed, whether Russian or not is secondary, says the Hungarian premier

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, addressing a conference of South-Eastern European countries’ parliamentary speakers on Friday, said cheap energy was necessary to sustain both the European and Hungarian economies, and whether the energy was Russian or not was “of secondary” importance from Hungary’s point of view.