Szijjarto regrets ‘nadir’ of EU’s competitiveness before meeting EU counterparts

Europe has relegated to third place in terms of its contribution to the global economy, “and with the worst figures of recent decades,” he said on Facebook. Meanwhile, he added, “natural gas in Europe costs four times as much as in North America, and electricity three times as in China”.

“The ties of East-West cooperation, which have served a solid basis for European growth for a long time, are now being severed one by one,” he said. “We are debating the 12th package of sanctions, while no honest assessment of the impacts of the previous eleven have never been compiled,” he added.

The Hungarian government “seeks an improvement in Europe’s competitiveness and greatly contributes, having won a number of investment projects this year, which otherwise would have gone to third countries,” he said, adding that East-West cooperation should be considered “a great opportunity rather than a peril”.