Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban on Thursday symbolically opened a connection of the Slovak and Hungarian gas-pipeline network near the village of Szada, 28 kilometres northeast of Budapest.
The connection is part of the North-South corridor, which in the future will allow transit of gas from Poland to Croatia. The prime ministers at the meeting also signed a memorandum on development of road infrastructure. Orban in Brussels last week stated that the Slovak-Hungarian gas-pipeline connection, which has been financially supported by the EU, fulfils not only business but also energy security requirements. According to the Hungarian premier, this connection will allow Hungary to receive for the first time ever non-Russian gas (coming via Ukraine), as the Hungarian network is now connected via Slovakia to the Czech gas system which contains Norwegian gas. The new two-way gas pipeline with the annual capacity of 5 million cubic metres is 111-kilometres long, of which 94 kilometres is on the Hungarian territory. The project has cost €160 million, with the EU contributing €30 million via the European Energy Programme for Recovery funds.
