Orbán in front of the business elite
The Prime Minister sees opportunities for a change in the rhythm of the economy this year. “This is possible because the many crises between 2020 and 2023 were unable to destroy our economy,” explained Viktor Orbán at the Chamber’s start of the year on Monday in Budapest.
The real economy survived the crises without major damage, for which the Prime Minister gave two reasons. On the one hand, economic policy gave private households and the economy room to breathe. (Unfortunately, Orbán did not elaborate on this theory.) Secondly, Hungary is now focusing on investments from the East.
A new Cold War
Unfortunately, today economic rationality is being pushed into the background by geopolitical rivalries, he lamented. Even technological development is determined according to political aspects. A new Cold War may not hit Hungary on its western border, but certainly in the east. It is therefore better to rely on cooperation and trade, for example in a combination of Western companies and investors from the East. “We are part of the West, but we do not close ourselves off to countries in the East,” Orbán made clear.
No question of sympathies
Europe will not be able to avoid arming itself because it cannot always rely on the USA alone. In the Prime Minister’s interpretation, the Ukraine war is not a Russian-Ukrainian war, but a proxy war. For him it is obvious that neither the West can win against Russia nor Russia can win against the West. Orbán therefore once again pushed for peace as quickly as possible and noted that it would be in stark contrast to Hungarian interests if Russia pushed its borders closer to Hungary.
Because this also has a negative impact on the economy, the government is counting on the return of Donald Trump, because only a new actor can find a way out of the messy situation in Ukraine. “This is not a question of sympathies, it is simply a question of whether the incumbent US president is pursuing a foreign policy that is beneficial to Hungary. “With the current US administration, we cannot see that it is working towards a quick peace.”
Crazy combustion ban
When it comes to electromobility, the Prime Minister found clear words for the first time in the form of a contradiction: “Who is actually behind this completely irrational decision to ban combustion engines in the EU after 2035?” This is also why the upcoming European elections are important, to make ideology-based decisions like the ones made today that dominate the EU institutions.
The country needs national champions
Orbán also pushed for a balanced capital account. The fact that foreign investors bring 4-6 billion euros in profits out of the country every year is not fundamentally wrong, since these companies employ a lot of people. On the input side, Hungarian companies’ profit transfers from abroad amount to 1.3-1.5 billion euros, which are supplemented by 1.5 billion euros in EU funds. In order to create a balance here, so-called “national champions” would have to be brought in. The Prime Minister named the real estate, ICT and defense industries as concrete examples.
“A strong National economy indicates that most investmentin von indigenousen actors.
There is still a lot to do for Hungary.”
#Orbán #Geopolitics #triumphs #rationality