Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has announced that Hungary’s Paks expansion will soon qualify as a nuclear power plant under construction according to the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
His comments came during the Russian Energy Week international forum, where he detailed how the first concrete will be poured for Paks II this coming February, according to the Index news portal.
According to a statement from the Hungarian trade ministry, following his meeting with Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev, Szijjártó said that both parties are extremely committed to the success of the Paks expansion.
“Hungary needs this nuclear power plant, as it will increase the share of nuclear energy in meeting domestic electricity demand to 70 percent. Hungary is a landlocked country, it has no oil fields, no natural gas fields, so nuclear energy is the best way to improve security of supply,” he said.
The minister said that they would like to connect both new reactor blocks to the grid by the beginning of the next decade.
“We have reviewed the schedule, which states that the first concrete for the fifth unit will be poured into the ground no later than early next February,” he continued.
Szijjártó emphasized that Hungarian families today pay the lowest gas prices in the European Union, and that in order for this to remain the case, the new Paks nuclear power plant will be necessary in the long term.
As Hungary’s economy grows, so does its energy needs, he explained, and to keep its energy costs low, nuclear capacities need to be expanded. This will also guarantee Hungarian families continue to pay the lowest gas prices in Europe in the long term.
“This is a strategic issue for us, we will not allow any international pressure to force us to increase the price of natural gas for families. Reducing utility bills is one of the most important issues in Hungary today, and we will protect the results of reducing utility bills at all costs,” he emphasized.
Szijjártó also gave an update on the TurkStream pipeline and its importance to Hungary. Highlighting his meeting with Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, he stated: “Energy is not a political or ideological issue. With @aBayraktar1 we confirmed that keeping TurkStream operational is a shared interest of Hungary and Türkiye. As two NATO member states we agreed that cutting off a reliable & affordable energy source is unreasonable & dangerous.”
Meanwhile, the Hungarian foreign minister has taken more heat for this latest visit to Moscow, this time to take part in the Russian Energy Week international forum. However, Hungary has and continues to make clear that diversification is key to their energy security strategy, and this includes Russian supplies, i.e., those running through Ukraine via the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline that is continuously targeted for destruction by Kyiv.
“Cutting one of our two oil pipelines is not diversification. It’s insanity. Our decisions on energy supply will always follow one principle: the Hungarian national interest,” he posted along with footage from the event on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Szijjártó also took direct aim at Brussels for undermining the EU economy, calling for a new economy policy.
“What Europe needs instead is lower taxes, stronger cooperation between companies, and more authority for Member States,” he posted on X after a meeting of EU trade ministers in Denmark.
