Constructing the South Stream gas pipeline is a European interest because it would help increase energy security in Central Europe, state secretary for foreign affairs and trade Péter Szijjártó has said in Vienna. It would diversify transport routes, reduce transit risks and supply not only the countries it crosses but Western Europe as well, he told a conference on energy security in Central and southern Europe. Russia-EU talks on the project should be boosted, Szijjártó said. Good reasons were the lack of a common European energy policy that had led to the failure of the Nabucco project, which would have diversified resources and routes, the delay in the launch of an LNG terminal in Croatia and the lack of two-way gas supplies through pipelines connecting Hungary with Romania and Croatia. Szijjártó noted that the North Stream pipeline had reduced transit risks. Building South Stream was a basic interest for Hungary and Central Europe because their gas supplies should not hinge on the political situation in neighbouring Ukraine.
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