Hungarian PM criticised over gas deal with Russia

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.”

AFP