The economic policy of the Hungarian Government is in accordance with priorities defined by the European Union, and some of their recommendations have already been implemented due to Government measures, Minister of State for Economic Policy at the Ministry for National Economy Zoltán Cséfalvay said at the Monday session of the Parliament’s Committee on European Affairs.

Speaking about the growth report for 2013 commencing the third EU semester he emphasized that it is quite obvious a lot more has to be done both domestically and in the EU in order to put an end to the crisis.

With regard to fiscal policy he pointed out that, according to the Commission’s proposals, taxes on labour shall be reduced and consumption-, environment- and property-related taxes shall be levied instead. This is precisely the direction the taxation system reform of the Government has been pointing to, he stressed.

The Minister of State reminded the audience that the European Commission recommended a stricter and growth-oriented fiscal policy and called for boosting the granting of credits, stimulating current and future growth as well as competitiveness, and the modernization of public administration.

Minister of State Cséfalvay said, growth-oriented adjustment is “a good catchword, but hard to apply”. There can be no expenditure cuts without demand-side effects and in case the Government introduces revenue-increasing measures these inevitably affect growth.

However, he underlined that the Commission disputes sometimes details, especially those related to the property tax, of which the Government stressed that knowing the Hungarian real estate registration system it is obvious that their requirements cannot be met.

(Ministry for National Economy)