Bulgaria Becomes Key Partner in Hungary’s Energy Security

L-R: Georg Georgiev and Péter Szijjártó

“Bulgaria is a reliable and predictable transit state in relation to Ukraine, without which Hungary’s energy security could not be guaranteed,” Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Monday.

Based on the ministry’s statement, Péter Szijjártó said at a joint press conference with his Bulgarian counterpart Georg Georgiev that cooperation between the two countries has never been more important than it is today, as Europe has been facing a continuous energy crisis for years as a result of flawed energy policy decisions at the EU level, which has been exacerbated by Ukraine’s blocking of a natural gas pipeline through its territory.

Photo: MTI/Kocsis Zoltán

He said that Bulgaria is now an essential player for the security of the Hungarian economy, as the vast majority of energy supplies come through the country.

Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to express Hungary’s gratitude and appreciation to Bulgaria for being a reliable and predictable transit partner,”

he stated.

He explained that as a landlocked country, predictable and reliable cooperation between transit countries is critical for Hungary.

“My Foreign Minister colleague today assured me that we can count on Bulgaria to continue to play a predictable and fair role in transit. This is reassuring for Hungary (…) Because we have a neighbor, Ukraine, which is constantly making decisions that endanger the energy security of Hungary and the Central European region”, he stressed.

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FM Szijjártó complained that Ukraine has blocked the natural gas pipeline through its territory and has been pressuring the EU to impose sanctions on energy cooperation with Russia. It must be clearly stated that if energy cooperation with Russia were to be restricted or sanctioned, Hungary’s energy supply would be at risk, so Hungarian families would have to pay twice or three times as much for their utilities as they do now. So it is clear that Ukraine is not at all interested in the interests of the Hungarian people,” stressed Péter Szijjártó.

Photo: MTI/Kocsis Zoltán

In contrast, he praised Bulgaria, pointing out that last year it broke the record for the volume of natural gas shipped through the country to our country, exceeding 7.5 billion cubic meters, and that this year it is likely to be even more, with figures already standing at around 21 million cubic meters a day.

He said it is important that MVM has established a new regional gas trading company in Bulgaria, which will contribute to improving security of supply in the region.

“And we are also taking a stand for nuclear energy, both Bulgaria and Hungary reject negative discrimination against nuclear energy.

It is clear that the criticism of nuclear energy is based solely on political ideology, without any professional basis,”

he said.

“Nuclear energy is a cheap, environmentally friendly and reliable way to ensure a secure supply of electricity to meet the country’s growing electricity needs, and we are pleased that Bulgaria is ready to use Hungarian technology in its nuclear capacity expansion” he added.

The minister welcomed the results of Hungarian-Bulgarian economic cooperation, noting that last year Hungarian exports to Bulgaria broke the record.

“OTP is the second largest player on the Bulgarian banking market. And the major investment by Videoton was inaugurated last week in Sztara Zagora,” he recalled.

“So we can only talk about bilateral cooperation at the highest level, and the reason for this is that there are no politically contentious or open issues between the two countries. We approach the big dilemmas – whether it is family support or migration – in absolutely the same way,” he concluded.