EC Vice President Maros Sefcovic visit to Budapest

Budapest, June 16 (MTI) – Central and Eastern Europe, and Hungary as well, is still vulnerable from the point of view of energy security, the Hungarian foreign minister said, after meeting European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic in Budapest.

Romania and Croatia have not yet carried out investments required for its interconnectors to ship natural gas despite relevant EU and bilateral agreements, Peter Szijjarto said after their talks.

This makes building a gas delivery infrastructure difficult, he said.

The government will do its utmost to cater for Hungary’s energy security and will seek to serve that goal by linking the CEE region’s electricity networks, the minister added.

Among tasks for Hungary, he mentioned the creation of a large capacity strategic gas pipeline to link Central and Eastern Europe with Turkey.

This would diversify not only the delivery routes, but the sources of supplies as well, he said.

The interconnector linking Hungary and Slovakia can start shipping gas on July 1, Szijjarto said, noting that Hungary was the first EU member state to conclude an agreement with Ukraine on reverse gas deliveries. This served as a model for other member states on how Ukraine can be linked up with the community’s energy market, he said.