FM: TurkStream pipeline must be protected at all costs

The foreign minister has called on the EU to stand up for the region’s energy security.

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said ensuring the security of gas supplies would be impossible without TurkStream, so the pipeline must be protected at all costs, calling on the European Union to stand up for the energy security of Hungary and central Europe.

Following phone talks with the Turkish energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister Szijjártó said on Facebook that “several worrying decisions have been made in our neighbourhood that pose challenges to the security of our energy supplies.”

TurkStream is currently the most important pipeline in terms of Hungary’s gas supply, he said. “Deliveries are currently uninterrupted, but so are physical, political and financial attacks against the pipeline.”

Minister Szijjártó said he and Bayraktar had agreed that “the attacks against TurkStream are outrageous and unacceptable. We must protect TurkStream at all costs!”

The foreign minister also called it unacceptable that “the EU and other foreign institutions are ignoring the attacks that put the energy security of Hungary and other central European countries at risk.”

He called on the EU to stand up for the region’s energy security and guarantee “that no foreign player impedes the energy security of our country and the region.”