Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Speech at the Official Announcement regarding the Interconnection of the Hungarian and Slovakian Natural Gas Networks

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen, deeply respected Prime Minister Robert Fico,

This is Central Europe, and accordingly I am slightly at a loss. What it would be right to do now is, in addition to expressing my appreciation in the name of the people of Hungary towards the people of Slovakia and their leader, is to also make some encouraging and friendly statements in view of the fact that there will also soon be elections in Slovakia, but since we are in Central Europe I am not sure if that mightn't be counterproductive. Life is this complicated in these parts, so I will stick to talking about our agreement.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my firm belief that Central Europe has a bright future ahead of it, on one condition. The future will be bright if we Central Europeans, Hungarians, Slovakians and the rest, realise a myriad of cooperative projects like this one, and especially within the fields of the economy, transport, energy and culture. My wish for all of us, Hungarians and Slovakians alike, is that the agreement we have concluded today be followed by many others.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please allow me to take this opportunity to look back on the past a little. Because it is interesting that the countries of Central Europe reacted similarly to the European problems that began as a financial crisis in 2008-2009 and then developed into an economic crisis. We cannot know exactly why this happened, but it would undoubtedly seem that if a crisis erupts, then the people of Central Europe see in it not just a problem but also an opportunity. History has probably taught us that opportunity is simply a form of trouble, and it may easily be the case that it is up to us whether we recognise the opportunities that lie within the crisis or not.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I think it is right that we should all congratulate Slovakia on its fantastic performance during the economic crisis. If you take a look at the figures then you will see that they speak for themselves. There is always a certain level of rivalry between the countries of Central Europe. If God is gracious to us, then it is a peaceful rivalry of an economic nature, and for many years we Hungarians have watched and tried to understand how things should be done so that during a period of crisis economic growth doesn't decrease but gains strength, and how it is possible to achieve an improvement in the economic balance rather than it worsening, in other words, how to govern in a time of crisis.

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I think we have learned much from Slovakia. I believe that the situation we are currently in is a Central European situation and it obliges us to work together in mutual respect. It is also worth noting that the countries of Central Europe, and perhaps Prime Minister Fico will not mind if I mention this now, including both he and I, and together with the other two Prime Ministers of the Visegrád Group, cooperate with each other with regard to many European issues and stand up for the interests of our homelands and Central Europe, and we often do so with success. This is an encouraging sign with regard to the fact that we Central Europeans must work together and make a stand for our own interests. Today, we are reinforcing this way of thinking, this intention and the successful cooperation we have developed in recent years. I would like to declare what is happening here today an event of historic significance. It is of historic significance from the perspective of Hungarian energy supply, and since energy is a determining factor within the economy, it is also of historic significance from the point of view of the economy. Although the European and Central European gas market is complicated, I must be careful to express myself accurately so my words are not misinterpreted and used against me later – as you know, I am also in the middle of an election campaign. So the way this should be properly put is that this pipeline will allow the arrival of gas to Hungary from a non-Russian source. We also have a guest present from the European Union, who I also greet with respect. He probably finds the weight and significance of this statement a little harder to understand, because to the west of us a state of affairs in which the whole national energy supply is dependent on a single source of procurement has been a thing of the past for a very long time, but this is not the case here in Hungary and in Central Europe. This is the first time in the history of Hungary that we can very safely say that whatever happens to the east of us, and let us put that issue in brackets now, but only for today, gas will arrive in Hungary under all circumstances. If I add to this the fact, Ladies and Gentlemen, that in recent years, and I am sure you remember that there was a great deal of debate on the issue, Hungary eventually repurchased from the Germans the rights to contracts signed with the Russians and we previously repurchased our, in my view irresponsibly sold, natural gas reservoirs, and if we add to this the fact that the Hungarian State has acquired a 25 percent stake in one of Central Europe's largest companies, Mol, then taking all of these factors into account what I can tell you is that the Hungarian State has today in its possession everything required to ensure that, whatever may happen in the world, we will be able to predictably and securely supply the Hungarian economy and Hungary's households with natural gas.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At this point I must of course also mention that this is all good news, but there is also a serious problem that we must deal with in the upcoming years. I hope we have an opportunity to also cooperate in finding a solution to this Central European problem. In ten days' time too. The issue concerns the fact that the price of energy in the United States and other regions that represent serious competition to us is significantly lower than in Hungary. I don't think I am wrong in saying that this is most probably also true in the case of Slovakia.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Europe as a continent or Central Europe as a region or Hungary as a nation will not be competitive within the global economy if we cannot successfully compete on the energy market. And accordingly we have set as our objective nothing less than that the price of electricity in Hungary for both households and within the field of industry should be the cheapest in Europe. This objective is very ambitious and borders on the impossible, but it is nevertheless a goal that can be attained and achieved. My wish for Hungary and for every citizen of Hungary is that we are successful in achieving this goal.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In closing, I would like to express my great appreciation to Prime Minister Robert Fico for enabling us to sign this agreement. Péter Szijjártó has told you about the unacceptable conditions that still exist along the Hungarian-Slovakian border more than sixty years after the Second World War. It is after all unworthy of us, in comparison to our fellow members of the European Union from the West, that there should be as few border crossing points as there currently are, as a result of which both Hungarian and Slovakian citizens are being stripped of the opportunity to develop relations to a similar level of quality as their Western European counterparts. This is a state of affairs that we have both inherited. It was neither the current Hungarian Prime Minister nor the current Slovakian Prime Minister who brought this state of affairs into being, but my opinion, respected Prime Minister Fico, is that it is our job to remedy the situation. And accordingly I am grateful to you that we have concluded this agreement here today.

I wish you much strength, good health and success so that we can sign many more agreements of this kind for the good of our two peoples, Hungary and Slovakia, Slovakians and Hungarians.

Thank you for your kind attention.

(Prime Minister’s Office)