Bulgaria’s Radev congratulates Orbán on ‘his sober assessment of the geopolitical processes and the challenges we face’
Bulgarian President Roumen Radev, speaking on December 20 at a joint briefing in Sofia with his guest Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, congratulated Orbán on “his sober assessment of the geopolitical processes and the challenges we face”.
“I want to congratulate Viktor Orbán for his sober assessment of the geopolitical processes and the challenges we face, for his clear vision for the development of his country in Europe,” Radev said.
“We share the conviction that a priority for Europe is achieving peace on the continent with the leading role of diplomacy,” said Radev, who like the Euroskeptic Hungarian leader is an opponent of military aid for Ukraine.
“Peace without which it is unthinkable to talk about security and the sustainability of socio-economic development,” Radev said.
He said that illegal migration must be effectively countered and “Christian and family values” must be strengthened.
The main topic of the talks between Radev and Orbán was the issue of paying transit fees for Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline to Hungary.
Hungary is seeking support for a solution to the issue of what will happen should gas transit through Bulgaria and other countries end because of the effect of US sanctions on Gazprombank, which end the system of paying for Russia gas imports through TurksSream.
“Bulgaria and Hungary continue to develop exceptional cooperation in investments, industry, finance, construction, tourism. Bulgaria will continue to be a reliable partner in energy and contribute to security of supply and diversification for our partners from Central Europe,” Radev said.
Radev thanked Orbán for the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU and for Orbán’s role in the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen.
In line with a decision taken by EU ministers earlier in December, Bulgaria and Romania will be integrated into “land Schengen” as of January 1 2025. The two countries’ air and sea ports were integrated in the Schengen visa zone earlier in 2024.
“This is truly a strategic achievement of enormous benefit to the economy and citizens, not only of Bulgaria and Romania, but also of the entire EU,” Radev said.
“In the coming weeks, we will also sign an important memorandum in transport and security, about the use of the ports in Varna and Bourgas, in the field of security and tourism. Hungary is an important investor in Bulgaria. We call on businesses from both countries to cooperate much more,” he said.
Orbán said of the Schengen decision: “You saw that we are supposedly together in the European Union , but there were some countries that could move freely and other countries that could not.
“This oppresses people, no one wants to be second-rank,” Orbán said.
“Together we will be able to enjoy the benefits of free travel, not to mention what benefits this will have for trade,” he said.
Orbán thanked Radev that in these changing times, he had always been a “fixed point” in bilateral relations.
“He has always supported us in developing economic ties between Bulgaria and Hungary, because Bulgaria has always been a strategic point for our security, especially since the war and what was arriving from Ukraine – gas,” Orbán said.
Bulgaria always had been a key country for Hungary, he said.
Orbán said that in 2023, Hungary imported 5.6 billion cubic metres of gas through Bulgaria, with 85 per cent of the Hungarian economy working with gas.
Hungary has a nuclear power plant but could not get fuel from Ukraine, and only Bulgaria could help Hungary with this, Orbán said, expressing gratitude to Bulgaria.
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