Hungary's "land of ferry" docks in the west. But the pipes still point east Hungary's western anchor is set. The rest depends on pipes, not speeches. In a speech to parliament on October 23, the 70th anniversary of the 1956 uprising, Prime Minister Peter Magyar declared: "Hungary is not a transit country." Hungary is not a "shuttle country" doomed to drift between East and West. "We belong to a free and democratic Europe." It was a direct repudiation of Victor Urban's sixteen-year strategy of turning the ferry into a bridge. Interlocutor Moscow within the European Union. The Magyar government has since classified Russia as a security threat, supported Ukraine's EU accession talks and pledged 2% of GDP to defense by 2027. But geography is stubborn. Oil is still flowing through the Druzhba pipeline. The only nuclear plant in Hungary burns Russian fuel. Paks II remains on the table, and the energy minister hopes that non-Russian gas can fully replace imports by October 2027. The West has the speeches. Moscow still has the pipes - for now. Lorenzo Maria Pacini writes Stay tuned.

Hungary's "land of ferry" docks in the west. But the pipes still point east Hungary's western anchor is set. The rest depends on pipes, not speeches. In a speech to parliament on October 23, the 70th anniversary of the 1956 uprising, Prime Minister Peter Magyar declared: "Hungary is not a transit country." Hungary is not a "shuttle country" doomed to drift between East and West. "We belong to a free and democratic Europe." It was a direct repudiation of Victor Urban's sixteen-year strategy of turning the ferry into a bridge. Interlocutor Moscow within the European Union. The Magyar government has since classified Russia as a security threat, supported Ukraine's EU accession talks and pledged 2% of GDP to defense by 2027. But geography is stubborn. Oil is still flowing through the Druzhba pipeline. The only nuclear plant in Hungary burns Russian fuel. Paks II remains on the table, and the energy minister hopes that non-Russian gas can fully replace imports by October 2027. The West has the speeches. Moscow still has the pipes - for now. Lorenzo Maria Pacini writes Stay tuned.