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The EU have agreed on a new plan to source power that isn’t from Russia : NPR


Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban shakes hands with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen smiles at the Cotroceni presidential palace in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, December 17, 2022.

Vadim Ghirda/AP


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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban shakes hands with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen smiles at the Cotroceni presidential palace in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, December 17, 2022.

Vadim Ghirda/AP

BUCHAREST, Romania — The leaders of Hungary, Romania, Georgia and Azerbaijan finalized an agreement on Saturday for an undersea electrical connector that could become a new source of energy for the European Union amid supplies energy shortage due to war in Ukraine.

The deal involves a cable line running under the Black Sea that will link Azerbaijan with Hungary via Georgia and Romania.

The deal comes as Hungary, which has lobbied heavily against EU sanctions on Russia because of the war in Ukraine, is looking for additional fossil fuel sources to reduce energy costs. Russia’s heavy dependence on oil and gas.

Azerbaijan plans to export electricity from offshore wind farms to Europe via Georgia, a cable route under the Black Sea, and then to Romania and Hungary.

The office of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said in a statement on Friday that the agreement between the four countries would provide the “financial and technical framework” for the undersea power cable project.

The project will aim to diversify energy supplies and enhance regional energy security, the statement said.

On Friday, Romania’s natural gas producer Romgaz also said it had signed a contract with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR state oil company to receive natural gas through the so-called southern gas corridor, with deliveries to begin January 1. Romgaz said it will serve the “strategic goal” of diversifying natural gas sources.

Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, said in August that Azerbaijan would soon produce “large quantities of green electricity” with offshore wind farms and by signing a connection project could bring that energy to Europe, Hungary has met the requirement that the two EU member states join in order for the investment to receive funding from the bloc.

Szijjarto said the project could be completed within three or four years and it would be an important step towards diversifying energy supplies and meeting carbon neutrality goals.

This week, Szijjarto met with officials from both Qatar and Oman about the possibility of future oil and natural gas imports to Hungary from the two Middle Eastern nations, another sign that Hungary is taking steps to reduce its import rate by 85% of its natural gas and more than 60% of the oil it currently receives from Russia.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Romanian President Iohannis, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended the signing event in Bucharest on Saturday along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

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