“With the operating company’s relocation from the Netherlands to Hungary, the TurkStream pipeline will be able to operate without disruption in the coming period despite any legal and financial attacks,” Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Moscow during a meeting of the Hungarian-Russian joint economic committee on Dec. 9.
According to international newswire Reuters, South Stream Transport has faced litigation in its current base in the Netherlands over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Hungary has become increasingly reliant on the pipeline, which carries Russian natural gas to southern Europe through the Black Sea and Turkey, since Ukraine refused to continue facilitating such supply through its territory via the Druzhba pipeline earlier this year.
The Hungarian government is doing everything it can to maintain its cheap energy supply from Russia, even amid increased European Union pressure to wean the continent off this source. The latest efforts from the EU are the RePowerEU regulation, which would phase out imports of Russian gas from fall 2027.
In a workaround designed to sidestep any Hungarian veto, the European Commission has decided to treat the hydrocarbons ban as a trade policy matter, and that, unlike sanctions, does not require unanimous approval from member states. Hungary and Slovakia, the two EU countries dependent on Russian energy, have threatened legal action if the EC goes ahead.
Orbán told Kossuth Rádió on Dec. 5 that Hungary would take legal action against the European Commission if it bypassed the country’s veto on proposed sanctions targeting Russian gas and oil purchases, accusing Brussels of “playing with loaded dice” by classifying the planned restrictions, which currently exempt Hungary and Slovakia, as trade policy measures rather than sanctions.
With the regulation up for a vote as soon as next week, Szijjártó said that Hungary and Slovakia would jointly request its suspension during the legal proceedings and seek its annulment at the European Court of Justice were it to be adopted. Describing the regulation as “a massive legal fraud,” Szijjártó added that it violates EU Treaties by infringing on national energy policy competences and even contradicts the EU’s own legal assessments.
Orbán and Szijjártó had earlier traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure Hungary’s energy supply for the winter and the year ahead. Democratic Coalition (DK) deputy leader Sándor Rónai took issue with the visit, Orbán’s 14th meeting as Prime Minister with the Russian leader, claiming Putin had summoned Orbán to deliver his orders personally.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of December 12, 2025.
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