Budapest intends to reroute its gas supplies through Bulgaria and Romania, according to PM Viktor Orbán, the EU leader most sympathetic to the government in Moscow.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s president confirmed that Kyiv would not renew an agreement that allows Russian energy giant Gazprom to access a transit pipeline which runs through Ukrainian land. The contract comes to an end on December 31.
On a visit to Sofia on Friday, Orbán said that Bulgaria had given him a guarantee that energy supplies for Hungary could take the Bulgarian route, Poland’s state news agency PAP reported.
“Bulgaria is a key country for Hungary, especially since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, because it is the one guaranteed route for supplying Hungary with indispensable energy resources,” the prime minister said.
Last year the Bulgarians had considered introducing an extra levy on gas transit through its territory, leading Orbán to threaten to block the country’s accession to the border-free Schengen Zone in response. Both Bulgaria and Romania will join Schengen in January.
While many European countries have tried to decrease their dependence on Russian gas since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, imports from Russia remain key for many states. EU members Austria, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia have called for the Ukrainian transit deal to be extended, while Moldova - which is not in the bloc - has declared a national state of emergency ahead of the pipeline cut-off.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that, while the contract with Gazprom will not be renewed, an exception could be made if payments for Russian gas were delayed until after the war between Russia and Ukraine comes to an end.
Hungary, which signed a deal with Gazprom in 2021, imports 80% of its natural gas from Russia.
