The relationship of the EU and Russia can be fixed on the basis of the Minsk agreement signed last week on the resolution of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, Viktor Orbán said in an interview with a Russian daily newspaper Kommersant. Parts of the [http://www.kormany.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/the-prime-minister-s-interview-with-russian-daily-newspaper-kommersant]interview[/] were published in the online version of the paper already on Wednesday.
Europe and Russia must re-establish their political and economic cooperation, the Hungarian Prime Minister emphasised. He said that one of the points of the Minsk II agreement that provides a basis for settling EU-Russian relations is the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict. “The weapons must be put down. The other point is that we have to strive for the closest possible economic cooperation”, Mr Orbán stressed.
The Prime Minister was of the opinion that “the +tissue+ holding together Russia and the European Union in a good relationship during the Ukraine crises must be created”.
The “Normandy Four”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Presidents of France, Ukraine and Russia, Francois Hollande, Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin have come to an agreement last week on a measure package setting out the implementation of the Minsk agreement of last autumn in 13 points, the primary ones of which were the ceasefire to be established in Eastern Ukraine and withdrawing heavy artillery from regions struck by fights. According to the document, in order to come to a peaceful resolution, Kiev will carry out a constitutional reform and elections will be held in the separatist regions.
The Prime Minister also talked about the South Stream pipeline and about the possibilities of Russian gas coming to Hungary. He said that “this is a sad story, the South Stream should have been built after all, however Russia cancelled the project (…) We have agreed that Russia will support the version according to which a pipeline going through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary will be built. If every involved country agrees, Russia will participate, but Mr Putin announced that – having learnt from recent events – the EU must first give its consent. We are now working on this”, Mr Orbán explained.
The Prime Minister added that in the EU, there are countless concurring pipeline ideas on the table, which is why “we do not only have to simply lobby, but fight for the success of our concept”.
The Russian daily will publish the full version of the interview with the Prime Minister on Friday.