Businessweek: Hungary Opens the Way for South Stream as Orban Defies EU

Hungary’s parliament approved a law that would open the way for the construction of the Russian-backed South Stream natural gas pipeline, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s latest show of defiance toward the European Union.

Lawmakers approved an amendment allowing a company to construct a gas pipeline even if it doesn’t have the licenses needed to operate it, according to parliament’s website. The legislature, where Orban wields a two-thirds majority, voted 132 to 35 in favor.

“This is meant to give a boost to South Stream and is to show Russia that Hungary is taking the project seriously,” Attila Holoda, an expert on energy regulation who served under Orban as assistant state secretary in 2012, said by phone.
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