ST. PETERSBURG, October 10. /TASS/. The authorities of the European Union destroyed the foundation of the competitiveness of the economies of the union's countries by rejecting gas supplies from Russia for ideological reasons, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in his speech at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum.

According to him, there was a solid foundation for the European economy, which could be competitive on a global scale. It had two pillars: the presence of powerful technologies and access to cheap natural resources from the east (from Russia - TASS).

In recent years, due to certain decisions Brussels had made the foundation of a powerful economy was, Szijjarto stated.

According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, the problem is that decision-makers at the EU level view energy supply issues based on ideology. As for Budapest it approaches energy security issues from the point of view of the physical presence or absence of the relevant infrastructure, the politician said.

Szijjarto said, that if there is no infrastructure, one can dream of alternative suppliers, but it will still be impossible to get gas. To his regret, in recent years, energy supply issues have been viewed in the EU from an ideological standpoint. As a result, European companies pay 4-5 times more for gas than their American competitors, the minister concluded.