At a ceremony marking the completion of the construction of the cross-border Cirkovce-Pince electrical transmission line, in Slovenia's Cirkovce, on Friday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the linking of Hungary and Slovenia's energy infrastructures is a symbol of the two peoples' hope for the future.
The prime minister said Hungarians and the people living in the territory of the former Yugoslavia used to be cut off from each other. Hungarians, therefore, built all of their links in an East-West context, whether it be gas, oil or electricity, he added. This separation remained after the breakup of Yugoslavia, making Slovenia the only one of Hungary’s neighbours with whom it had not had its gas, oil or electrical grids linked, PM Orbán added. He noted that it was his first government in 1999 which had extended the power transmission line to the border and linked it with Croatia’s network. PM Orbán thanked the Slovenian government which had helped link the transmission lines and the Slovenian people who had supported the project. He said Hungary needed to do everything in order to link the remaining energy infrastructures with Slovenia. PM Orbán said he believed central Europe had a bright future ahead of it. “Though we speak different languages, our life instincts bind us together,” PM Orbán said.