In an interview published in business daily Világgazdaság on Tuesday, Foreign Minister János Martonyi warned against building a system which would permanently create institutional division in the European Union and he also claimed that Hungary should sign a deal on financial assistance with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As regards the future of the European Union, János Martonyi stated a multi-speed Europe was a reality, but he gave warning against building a system which would permanently create institutional division in the European Union. Most importantly, the crisis of the eurozone should be resolved through the tools available – like enhanced cooperation – and not through introducing new devices that may make it a lot more difficult for non-eurozone members to adopt the common currency in the long run.

Minister Martonyi declared that he supported Hungary’s joining the European banking union as long as such conditions are established that ensure for non-eurozone member states to take part in the decision making process.   
János Martonyi urged that Hungary sign a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Martonyi said that an agreement should "definitely be signed", although Hungary has no need for "concrete money" from the IMF. However, a safety net is needed, mainly so that the financing of debt would be cheaper, he told the paper.

In connection with the EU enlargement Minister Martonyi asserted that even if there would be no more new countries joining the EU for a while following the planned the accession of Croatia in 2013, the most important is that the advancement of the integration process should continue, and so the candidate countries should not lose the prospect for future accesion.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)