Hungary FM: Labor-Based Economic Policy Guarantees Stable Future for Hungary

Swiss investments have also helped Hungary not only to survive the crises, but to emerge stronger from each one.

A Joint Venture Szövetség rendezvénye Pécsen Fotó: Kiss Dániel

It is the economic policy focused on job creation that guarantees a stable future in Hungary, Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said in Zurich on Wednesday, adding that, thanks to this,  last year’s records for investment, employment and exports were broken despite the crises.

The global economy has turned upside down twice in recent times, but despite this, Hungary still managed to close last year as its economically most successful year ever, and it now looks certain that new records will be set this year, the minister said following a round table discussion with Swiss business executives, according to a ministry statement. 

He underlined that the economy will set a brutal record for investment, exports will expand by roughly 8 percent, and full employment remains an absolutely realistic phenomenon. 

This was only possible because the Hungarian government has stuck to its policy centered on job creation and investment promotion throughout the crises caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, he noted.

If the opposition parties had been in power in recent years, the Hungarian economy would have gone bankrupt twice, he said, arguing that the opposition had twice called on the government to adopt a welfare-based economic policy.

The government has focused on preventing unemployment, rather than financing it, he pointed out.

"In recent years, thanks to investments by Swiss companies, among others, this has proved to be the right economic policy," he emphasized, adding that "work-based economic policy is the stable future for Hungary".

Swiss investments have also helped Hungary not only to survive the crises, but to emerge stronger from each one, Peter Szijjarto highlighted.

He said that some 900 Swiss companies in Hungary provide jobs for 30 thousand people, and that the government has supported investments by 36 companies in the last eight years.

"It is no wonder that last year our trade turnover broke a huge record, exceeding €2 billion for the first time, and this year we can boast another 6 percent growth," he stressed.

Hungary, as a committed member of the European Union, is interested in a strong European Union, in a community that enables member states to preserve their national sovereignty and traditions instead of further centralizing powers, the minister pointed out.

"We want a European Union where the right to debate is not taken away, and a European Union that not only talks about democracy, but also takes it seriously and works democratically," he underlined.

 "Today there are huge debates about what the future of the European Union should look like. At the same time, it seems that if you take a different position from the liberal mainstream, you are immediately hit with financial sanctions," he said.

"Hungary is also facing such financial sanctions, which are without any legal basis and which are imposed and enforced only because we have sovereign positions on key issues that are contrary to the mainstream," he emphasized.

Those who talk about the need for urgent peace in Ukraine and the importance of keeping communication channels open are immediately depicted as "a Russian puppet, an ally of Putin and a Kremlin propagandist", he noted.

"The opportunity for democratic debate is not given in the European Union, Brussels just talks about democracy, does not work democratically, and at the same time questions the will of the people," he said, adding that this can be seen, for example, in the approach to the Hungarian government's national consultation public survey. 

The foreign minister noted that the national consultation is a huge resource for the government in debates that fundamentally affect the future of the nation.

Thus I would respectfully ask everyone to fill in the national consultation questionnaires to strengthen the government’s position in the debates in Brussels in the coming weeks and months,

he said.

Cover photo: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (Photo: MTI/Daniel Kiss)