The Hungarian economy experienced losses of nearly €300,000 a day as a consequence of the Russian embargo, Szijjártó said. The Russian-Ukranian crisis had a significant negative impact on the European economy and there are no signs of it improving, he added.
“Europe’s competitiveness has decreased since the 2008 crisis and the strategic partnership with Russia is the only way to at least partly regain it,” Szijjártó noted.
Commenting on Hungary stopping gas supplies to Ukraine, Szijjártó said that reserves in Hungary were less than 60% full when he was appointed and considering the uncertain situation in Europe, Hungary wanted to make sure that reserves would be at 100% before the start of winter
Szijjártó said that during talks with Slovak counterpart Miroslav Lajcak, the Hungarian-Slovak interconnector was the most important topic and it could significantly contribute to energy security. The operation of the interconnector is scheduled to start on January 1, 2015, and its full annual capacity will be 6.7 billion cubic metres.
Szijjártó also noted that Hungary is dedicated to continuing the construction of the South stream gas pipeline.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
