Hungary paves the way for South Stream, Orban challenges EU - Businessweek
New York - Kyiv, November 04 (PolitNavigator, Vasily Ablyazimov) – The Hungarian Parliament has approved a law that will pave the way for the construction of the South Stream pipeline, which Russia wants to build to create a gas supply route to the EU bypassing Ukraine. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is defiantly defying the European Union, according to the American business publication Businessweek.
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Lawmakers approved amendments allowing any company to build a gas pipeline in Hungary, even if it does not have the license required to operate it. The message was posted today on the website of the Hungarian Parliament, in which Orban has a two-thirds majority, the publication notes.
“This is intended to give South Stream a boost and shows Russia that Hungary is taking the project seriously,” Attila Choloda, an energy regulation expert close to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, told Businessweek.
“Hungary aims to begin construction of a pipeline aimed at bypassing Ukraine within six months,” the publication quotes Csaba Badji, head of state energy company MVM Zrt. This company created a joint venture with OAO Gazprom for the construction and operation of the pipeline.
Previously, the EU blocked South Stream and imposed economic sanctions on Russia in connection with the conflict in Ukraine, which complicated the construction of the pipeline, as they limited the technical and legal cooperation of a number of Russian companies with companies in EU countries. But, apparently, the decision of the Hungarian parliament bypasses EU sanctions.
The proposed 2446-kilometer pipeline would carry Russian gas under the Black Sea, offering an alternative route to Europe without diversifying sources. Designed to deliver 63 billion cubic meters of gas per year, South Stream will pass through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia and, finally, Italy. Four of these countries are members of the EU, while Serbia is seeking to join.
The project will put an end to Gazprom's dependence on the Ukrainian gas transportation system. The EU and US pressured Bulgaria to stop construction in June.
“Orban’s support for South Stream,” writes Businessweek, “is a new step in the strain of Hungary’s relations with the EU and NATO. Only in January, Hungary handed over a contract to Russia to expand its nuclear power plants and received a loan from Moscow in the amount of 10 billion euros. In July, Orbán, who was re-elected in April to a four-year term, said he sought to create an “illiberal state” in Hungary within the EU and named Putin as one of those worthy of emulation.
Orban has been among the most vocal EU leaders criticizing sanctions against Russia. He suspended gas supplies to Ukraine until “an unspecified time” after a meeting with Gazprom head Alexei Miller.
"Together with Russian support, Orban is testing the EU's limits on South Stream," Andras Deak, an analyst at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, told Businessweek. “But the EU stopped Bulgaria, and it is going to stop us too.”
Hungary paves the way for South Stream, Orban challenges the EU, – Businessweek