The Hungarian Prime Minister expressed his gratitude for the honour of having received the Pásztor István Award together with the Serbian President.
He also said thank you for the support that Hungary has received from Serbia and President Aleksandar Vucic, and confirmed that in return, the Serbs, too, could always count on the Hungarians’ help “in these complicated times.”
Mr Orbán said topics at the working meeting to be conducted with the Serbian President in the afternoon will include energy supply, the sanctions, supplying Serbia with oil and the issue of peace, and expressed hope that in the evening they would be able to render an account of a successful meeting.
He indicated that the world was changing so fast and so many events were taking place that this would warrant even weekly meetings with the Serbian President, but as this was not possible, they had appointed the two countries’ ministers of foreign affairs and economy to establish the closest possible cooperation.
He stressed that as a result, there was weekly high-level communication between Serbia and Hungary.
In answer to a question relating to Hungary’s energy supply, the Prime Minister said Hungary does not have significant oil and gas deposits in its own territory, and therefore, we are compelled to live off imports, fundamentally Russian imports.
He highlighted that after the introduction of the US sanctions, he had two duties to take care of. The first one was to remove Hungary from under the effect of the US sanctions.
“I’ve taken care of that,” he stated.
The second one is to ensure that “we also have oil and gas,” meaning not just pieces of paper and permits, but actual oil and gas. He indicated that in the coming days and also the next day he would conduct talks to this end; it is to be hoped, with success.
In answer to the question of how Hungary can help Serbia, he said “my simple answer to this question is that we share with you whatever we have.”
In response to the question of whether Serbia came up at the talks he conducted with US President Donald Trump, he said, naturally, the Balkans is a region about which you cannot not speak at a US-Hungarian summit. As regards Serbia, “I only ever do as much as – but I always do that much – I have a mandate for from President Vucic. This is how I proceeded on this occasion as well,” he observed.
Regarding the Serbian oil refinery, he said if the Serbs decide that they need Hungary’s involvement in its operation, we are happy to take part in this, but this is exclusively their decision.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that he and the Serbian President of the Republic made a good decision when they agreed to build an oil pipeline between Serbia and Hungary. He added that there was already a gas pipeline, but there was no oil pipeline, and it was best if the basic energy infrastructure was comprehensively available between the two countries.
He highlighted: after the Wednesday cabinet meeting, he decided that “we don’t care” about the completely uncertain market situation to which it was impossible to adapt, meaning that we would accelerate the construction of the Hungarian section “expressly as a government project because also in the longer term, we expect to have a shared fate in a shared life community with the Serbs,” the Prime Minister said.
