BUDAPEST, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Hungary plans to play an active part in making the Nabucco pipeline a considerable alternative to natural gas supplies for the European Union (EU), Economy MinisterJanos Koka said on Tuesday.

    Koka denied reports that Hungary was not interested in Nabucco because it had already made a commitment to the Russian Blue Stream project, saying that is a misunderstanding.

    He said Hungary was interested in the construction of all pipelines that run through the country but it was also important that there should be real competition between these projects.

    The Nabucco pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline that is designed to transport natural gas from Turkey to Austria, via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary.

    Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany told the U.S. newspaper, The International Herald Tribune, last week that the Blue Stream pipeline operated by Russia's Gazprom was a safer bet than the rival Nabucco project because it was in a more concrete form and had a more reliable timetable.

    The main opposition party Fidesz accused Gyurcsany of putting the European Union in an untenable situation by backing a Russian gas pipeline instead of a rival EU project.

    Both pipelines are envisaged to connect Turkey with Hungary via Bulgaria and Romania.