Jobbik: Hungary gas supply at risk by Nord Stream, Southern Corridor 

Budapest, July 9 (MTI) – The security of Hungary’s gas supplies will be critically affected by international decisions to double the capacity of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and termination of the expansion of the Southern Corridor system in Russia, a lawmaker of radical nationalist Jobbik said on Thursday.

A recent agreement concluded by German and Russian energy firms on increasing the capacity of Nord Stream that supplies Russian gas to Germany, bypassing Ukraine, could force countries in central and eastern Europe to further depend on foreign gas under conditions “dictated” by their suppliers, Lajos Kepli told a press conference.

The decision means that Hungary will receive “the same” Russian gas, but not from that eastern direction but from the west, under criteria set there, he said.

Kepli criticised the government for having failed in its diplomatic efforts to find alternative gas suppliers such as Iran, Algeria or Turkmenistan.

He called on the government to start talks with Brussels and Russia to ensure safe supplies to Hungary after the planned elimination of the supply route via Ukraine in 2019.