Slovenia and Hungary are considering a gas pipeline between the two countries, which would allow Hungary to reduce its energy dependence on Russia. Slovenian and Hungarian leaders Robert Golob and Viktor Orban raised the possibility at a meeting in Slovenia on Friday.
To reduce its dependence on Russian gas, Hungary has three options, Orban said at a joint press conference, citing Slovenia, Croatia and Romania as possible cooperation partners.
“All three options are interesting to us,” said the Hungarian prime minister. As he stressed, the projects would not be mutually exclusive as Hungary would like to ensure the possibility of selection.
changed circumstances
With regard to the gas pipeline, Golob emphasized that circumstances had completely changed. “If in the past there was talk of bringing Russian gas to Italy, today we are talking about a pipeline that would allow Hungary to break free from its dependence on Russian gas and find an independent source of gas,” the Slovenian said. Prime Minister. He was referring to the connection via Italy to Algeria, where Slovenia recently supplied itself with gas.
According to Golob, the pipeline would be a sign of European solidarity, with Slovenia giving its neighbor access to natural gas from Algeria. He expressed the expectation that the EU would co-finance such a project.
Slovenian and Hungarian electricity grids connected for the first time
The reason for the meeting of the two government leaders was a ceremony for the commissioning of an 80-kilometre long high-voltage line, which will connect the Slovenian and Hungarian electricity grids for the first time. The ceremony took place in the town of Cirkovce, 20 kilometers south of Maribor.
The construction of the 2×400 kV electricity line started about two years ago and cost 160 million euros, of which 48 million euros was financed from the EU budget. Negotiations on the construction of the grid connection between Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia began in the mid-1990s. The Cirkovce-Pince long-distance pipeline, which has now been commissioned, was the final phase of the project. Slovenia was the last neighboring country with which Hungary did not have a high-voltage line.
Source: Krone
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