Csongor Gáll: Prime Minister, you’ve repeatedly referred to Donald Trump as a businessman, and an outstanding businessman at that. You and the Hungarian delegation are now arriving in Washington for business negotiations. What’s the Hungarian government’s proposal for putting us in a favourable position after the negotiations – and, if necessary, for obtaining exemption from energy sanctions?
We have a proposal regarding sanctions: quite simply, without any kind of agreement, by applying common sense they should recognise that it’s not in America’s interest to make decisions that will destroy us. For us this isn’t a business issue, but a matter of life and death. A friend doesn’t engage in business on a matter of life and death. So I don’t think this is a business issue, and there’s no need to put anything on the table in return. On the other hand, we have proposals for cooperation on other issues that would benefit both us and the Americans. So, if we put everything together, the entire agenda of the negotiations ahead of us holds serious advantages for both the Americans and us. These are fundamentally economic issues. And of course, since right now peace is the most important issue, there’s certain information and certain insights from the Hungarian side that are valuable to the Americans, as we’re closer to the front line than the American president – even though his secret service is obviously larger than the Hungarian one.
What’s your opinion on the Americans sanctioning companies and corporations rather than the entire infrastructure?
There must be a reason for this. A politician would be less likely to think of this than a businessman would. I had to come up with a solution , which I’ll put on the table, which doesn’t seek exemption for Hungary from sanctions against companies, but which proposes recognition of the fact that Hungary must obtain energy through certain channels, regardless of who provides supplies through those channels. So I have to ensure that our two most important pipelines – one in the east and one in the south – can always deliver oil to Hungary free from US sanctions, regardless of the type of oil and the company supplying it. This will be my proposal, more or less.
Based on our background discussions, our information is that in the negotiations nuclear energy could be an important issue and a matter for cooperation. Technically speaking, could American fuel or American nuclear energy be compatible at any level within the Paks cooperation?
When it comes to nuclear cooperation, there are several sub-issues. The first is sanctions, so we definitely need to ensure what they call a general licence: the Paks Nuclear Power Plant should be exempt from the general system of US sanctions. I have a good chance of achieving this, but I have to negotiate it; this is more difficult than natural gas and oil, but I think it will happen. The second question is that America has nuclear technology, but there are currently no nuclear technology links between Hungary and the United States. The question is whether this is possible – and if so, what form it would take. This is where interests also come into play. They have fuel. Interestingly, in the future we want to operate the Paks Nuclear Power Plant not only with Russian fuel, but also with French and American fuel. There’s always a risk involved in this, but we’ve managed to minimise it. Today our nuclear experts claim that it’s possible to establish fuel cooperation with Westinghouse, which is an American company. The second thing is that there’s a technology that we need, and the Americans have it; we have it too, but ours is less sophisticated. This is the technology for storing spent fuel; we’re using a certain system, but Westinghouse’s is better. If they want to bring in fuel, we need a technology that helps us in the same industry. So if they want something and we give it to them, then they can give us this. This is very close to agreement – and I think that a memorandum of understanding has already been signed. So Westinghouse comes in with fuel, and we get technology that allows for a higher level of nuclear waste storage than we’ve had so far. So that’s pretty much how it works.
Will fuel be cheaper or more expensive at petrol stations on Monday?
If it’s up to me, it will be cheaper.
