REUTERS
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said his country will press ahead with the South Stream gas pipeline project, which was earlier disowned by the European Union, Russian news agency RIA Novosti has reported with reference to the Prague newspaper Pravo.
Orban said this while speaking to journalists on Tuesday, the day after Hungary's parliament approved a law that would accelerate the construction of the Hungarian branch of the pipeline," Pravo wrote.
"Germany has already built the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which could help it to bypass Ukraine as a potential source of danger, and we want nothing more than Germany wants," Orban said, according to the Prague newspaper.
"It is necessary for Hungary to be provided with gas, even if Ukraine has problems," Orban added.
As reported earlier, the Hungarian parliament approved the draft law that would accelerate the construction of the South Stream pipeline. An UNIAN correspondent reports that the European Union now expects an explanation from the Hungarian government about the law in support of the South Stream gas pipeline.
The South Stream is a planned gas pipeline to transport Russian natural gas through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and through Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia on to Austria. The European Union has said the project does not comply with EU competition and energy legislation.