Orbán: Economic neutrality to bring about economic success

At the heart and the core of that economic policy should be an economic neutrality, Orbán said, adding that he firmly believed that neutrality would be key to the country’s economic success.

Answering a question, the prime minister said that in terms of its economic growth this year, Hungary is among the top third in Europe. “I am however not satisfied with this. I will only be if Hungary becomes first in that regard. Our target is a 3-5 percent growth rate which is not impossible to achieve in the coming year,” said Orbán.

On other topics, he said the repurchase of Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc international airport was a transaction of buying back a state asset. “The purchase of telco company Vodafone was a historic step, serving the goal that Hungary should have in its infocommunication sector a strong international company in state ownership. These have all been important and necessary steps,” the prime minister said.

“The country’s present state shows well that we were right on time to realise that instead of entering into any bloc, nurturing good relations with every important player of the complex world economy could be the solution to the Hungarian economy,” he said.

Asked about the dispute between the central bank and the government, Orbán said that “there would always be disputes about the economy because there are ones who have a certain vision about a good economy and there are others with a different vision”. “But there should however be no dispute between the central bank and the government”.

Asked about the situation of Hungary’s health care, Orbán said the country had 8,000 more doctors than in 2010. He noted a wage increase in the sector and an increase in the number of wards with air-conditioning each year. “We make progress every year in health care, too, but of course we have not yet finished the job.”

Asked about the situation of ruling Fidesz and the Hungarian right wing, Orbán, who is the leader of Fidesz, said his party had garnered 45 percent of the votes in the recent EP elections which “is the best result”. “We are Europe’s strongest political organisation,” he said, noting that “the next strongest party to follow had garnered 30 percent”.

Asked about how ethical he found that the state had purchased from his son-in-low an office compound in a deal worth 500 billion forints (EUR 1.2bn), Orbán said “what is ethical is that we observe the rules, every rule”.

As regards the issue of EU funding, Orbán said that “we have 12 billion euros on our account”. “We keep saying that there are no EU monies, but how the hell wouldn’t there be?”. “There are 12 billion euros waiting to be drawn into the Hungarian economy,” said Orbán, adding that “I am waiting for the Hungarian businesses to implement the tenders we called, that payments are made from the central budget and that we receive this money in post-financing. So the situation today is not that there is no money, but that the money is there, it is just that we cannot draw it in quickly enough,” he said.

Regarding the seven-year EU budget, the prime minister said that in using the funds, the fastest or second-fastest was Hungary out of the 27 member states, adding that “I would be careful even with criticism”. He said that the 12 billion euros of funding would last for many years to come.

Speaking of his leaked peace plan, Orbán said that if the Union had accepted any element of the proposal, there would be much less trouble today. “By the way, the peace mission has not ended. I have worked on it all summer, we are doing international work, there will be striking initiatives that will be presented as soon as this month”.

Speaking about foreign policy, the prime minister said that the essence of it was in building friendships and alliances. “The fact that two countries do not have good relations with each other does not preclude Hungary from being on good terms with both. It is in Hungary’s interest that the world economy does not fall apart into blocs, he said.

“Hungary can be on good terms at the same time with the Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Arabs and the European Union, we are a sovereign country,” Orbán said.

Regarding that a company, which can be tied to the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA) office in Moscow, would have delivered radio telephones to Russia in breach of sanctions, Orbán said that Hungarian national security services had not indicated any problems.

Answering questions on the state of Hungary’s railways and hospitals, the prime minister said that his cabinet’s most effective minister was in charge of transport, who had introduced the national travel pass, and the state secretary responsible for health care had served previously as a hospital director himself.

Asked if he would sit down for a debate in Strasbourg with MEP Peter Magyar, who heads the opposition Tisza party, Orbán said that he himself was not a member of the European Parliament but would fulfil the obligation arising from Hungary filling the role of the presidency of the European Council and would be available to all representatives of the EP.