Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said security of supply and price are the sole factors determining the government's energy policy.
“We don’t take political or ideological aspects into consideration,” Minister Szijjártó said at the 5th Budapest LNG Summit on Tuesday. “We are not ready to give up any partnership that has proven reliable… Neither will we terminate any contracts that we benefit from,” the minister said. He highlighted the importance of diversification, explaining that the government’s interpretation of the term centred on “securing new resources rather than excluding existing ones”. Given Hungary’s geographical location, the country depends heavily on the region’s infrastructure, so developing the regional network is crucial, he said. “The infrastructure determines the energy mix and impacts relevant decisions. Boosting capacities is of vital importance… For us, there is no such thing as a redundant gas pipeline,” he added. He called construction of the TurkStream pipeline “a success story”, and said Hungary would contend with serious difficulties without it. He highlighted Hungary was the first country apart from Turkey’s neighbors to import Turkish natural gas.