Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the value of central Europe is on the rise, with the focus of growth in the European Union shifting to the east.
During the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Cirkovce-Pince power line in eastern Slovenia, the prime minister said that when the value of a region is increasing, large and strong countries try to gain influence there and the affected countries and regions become the location for geopolitical games.
“Our region has become such a location,” PM Orbán said, adding that geopolitical games were natural developments and signs that the region had become important. He said the power line link was the largest Hungarian-Slovenian project of recent decades, a “flagship” endeavor in further building trust and friendship between the two countries.
Agreements on connecting the two countries’ gas pipeline and railway networks would also be geopolitically significant moves, he added. The power network link will strengthen Hungary and Slovenia’s independence and sovereignty as well as the region itself, making it better protected from “geopolitical games” and allowing them to enforce their interests, PM Orbán said. “When a nation decides to establish a connection with another country, that requires a level of trust,” he said. “Especially if they are linking something as crucial as their power supplies.”
Photo credit: Népszava