Posted on 02/27/2008 1:50:29 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
BUDAPEST (AFP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany came under fire Wednesday from both allies and the opposition for what they described as the secretive way in which he struck a recent gas pipeline deal with Russia.
Gyurcsany and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced Monday in Budapest that they would sign a deal on the South Stream gas pipeline project, bringing Russian gas to Europe, later in the week.
"I don't know the content of the agreement. (But) to make an agreement that will determine energy (policy) for the next 20 to 25 years and have no discussion in parliament about, it is unusual," the leader of the main right-wing opposition Fidesz party, Viktor Orban, told reporters Wednesday.
Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, a member of the liberal Free Democrats, the coalition partner of Gyurcsany's Socialists, added: "I am concerned that the prime minister made a long-term strategic decision about Hungary's gas supply in a deal whose background and details are only known to a few people."
Government officials briefed parliamentary committees about the deal Wednesday morning, two days after Gyurcsany and Medvedev, who is also chairman of Russian gas giant Gazprom, announced the deal.
But the ruling Socialists rejected an opposition call to have a plenary discussion on the issue in parliament.
Hungary is heavily reliant on Russian gas, much like the European Union, which has been trying to get its own Nabucco pipeline project off the ground.
Gyurcsany has said that the South Stream deal will not endanger the Nabucco project and that Budapest is interested in the success of both pipelines.
"No doubt there is a sort of competition between the various projects. What is in our interest is to have more and more pipelines go through Hungary and have price competition for the gas that flows through these lines," Gyurcsany wrote in his blog on Tuesday.
Gyurcsany is to travel to Moscow Thursday to sign the agreement sealing Hungary's participation in the 10-billion-euro (14.8 billion dollars) South Stream project, which is being built by Gazprom and ENI of Italy and should be operational by 2013.
Looks like the Austrians and Turks got screwed out of the deal.
Does this mean Nabucco pipeline is finally considered dead?
Deal done is secret because there are bribes, threats, kickbacks, skims, Swiss bank accounts. That’s my guess. Russia plays hard ball on energy
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.