Siarto called on the European Union to provide funds for the development of capacities through which Azerbaijani natural gas could reach Romania and Hungary (according to the plans, it will also provide funds within the framework of the Ring of Solidarity Agreement). The Prime Minister indicated that the investment of two Hungarian pharmaceutical companies in Azerbaijan is imminent, and Hill’s company has started its investment at a value of $200 million. In addition, he noted that the Azerbaijani government accepted preliminary plans for the complete reconstruction of a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh to be implemented by Hungarian construction companies.
According to the minister in Brussels
They will never admit the failure of the sanctions policy, and therefore will not withdraw the sanctions measures.
Regarding the fact raised by the political advisor to the Hungarian Prime Minister in a recent interview: It is not certain that the Hungarian government would support the possibility of re-candidacy of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for the presidency (it is true that a qualified majority) in the Council would be sufficient, so Hungary alone cannot Vetoing re-election to the European Parliament), Siarto stated: “Europe did very badly under the presidency of Ursula von der Leyen,” and tried to back that up by saying that during her presidency, China overtook the EU in the share of world GDP. The threads of cooperation between East and West have been cut one by one, and given the technological distance, it is not even clear what might be the new engine of European economic growth.
He also blamed that under von der Leyen’s leadership, “Poland and Hungary are constantly placed at a disadvantage compared to other countries, and this is a grave distinction.” He added, “The President of the European Commission cannot afford such a thing either for himself or for the Commission, so naturally our assessment of von der Leyen’s work and that of the European Commission is not very favorable.”
Then he said most assuredly again:
All of Europe has had a difficult time with von der Leyen’s presidency of the European Commission.
Peter Ciarto, on why the government should omit the Adria pipeline capacity expansion from the planned projects of the recovery loan (separate REPowerEU), which would help diversify Russian gas, claimed that the EU said it did not support SEO gas infrastructure capacity expansion , so this project was not taken out of it.
Diversification of Hungarian natural gas purchases and Russia’s decoupling will be discussed in detail at the Energy Investment Forum conference on October 5th. More details:
Regarding the future of gas supplies to Europe, the Azerbaijani foreign minister stated that in 2021, Azerbaijan delivered more than 8 billion cubic meters of gas to the European Union (mainly to Italy), which rose to 11.4 billion cubic meters last year and may exceed 12.5. billion cubic meters this year, and according to the memorandum of understanding with the European Union, they are working to reach 20 billion cubic meters annually by 2027.
Cover photo: Péter Szijjártó’s Facebook page
