While Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will be praised for his role in Bulgaria’s full Schengen membership when he meets President Rumen Radev on Friday, Russian gas is expected to take centre stage.
Hungary, which will lead the EU Council until the end of December, was instrumental in speeding up Bulgaria and Romania’s full Schengen membership during its six-month tenure. Now, Hungary is hoping for Bulgarian support to ensure that Russian gas continues to transit.
The Bulgarian president’s office said Radev and Orban “will discuss further deepening of the friendly bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Hungary, as well as topics on the EU agenda and the security environment in the region. “
Radev is expected to express Bulgaria’s gratitude and praise Orbán for supporting his country’s full accession to the Schengen area, but the bigger issue will be gas transit through Bulgaria, which could come to a halt on 20 December because of US sanctions against Gazprombank.
The sanctions end the current pattern of paying for Russian gas imports through the Turkish Stream pipeline, which runs through Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia to Hungary and Slovakia.
A week ago, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó held meetings with Radev and Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov in Bulgaria regarding the payment of transit of Russian gas via TurkStream. Hungary announced that it has a solution to the issue, but has not yet presented the solution publicly.
Bulgarian energy expert and former ambassador to Moscow Ilian Vassilev told Euractiv that if Bulgaria stops transiting Russian gas to Serbia and Hungary, the effect in these two countries will be “thermonuclear.”
Soaring popularity
Opinion polls show that Orbán is the most popular European leader among Bulgarians, with a positive rating of over 40%. His role in brokering Bulgaria’s and Romania’s accession to the Schengen area during Hungary’s EU presidency has also helped his popularity.
Radev and Orbán are the only European leaders who have opposed providing military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded, and they also have excellent relations with each other.
Orbán will also meet the leader of Bulgaria’s leading party, GERB, and its leader, the long-serving former prime minister Boyko Borissov, who is expected to remain a prominent figure if a regular government is formed.
“Viktor Orbán has been my friend for 20 years, and I know him almost as well as myself. I am glad he is coming, and I can see him,” Borissov said.
