At a conference organised by business daily Világgazdaság in Budapest on Thursday, Foreign Minister János Martonyi declared that economic success legitimises government policies, both foreign and domestic.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister claimed that economic goals, relations and interests fundamentally determine the direction of politics, which must facilitate the realisation of economic objectives. This is the reason why Hungary initiated the policy of “global opening” – he added.

Minister Martonyi stated that Hungarian export has significantly increased towards non-EU member of the Central European Initiative (CEI), such as Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, the Ukraine and Serbia.

He emphasized that the European Union is a great example for when economy precedes politics. It had been realized in the very beginning, he stated, that a unified Europe could only be accomplished through economic integration, adding that creating a political union is a much more difficult task.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister underlined that the EU plays a major economic role in global trade, and is by far the world’s leading power in development policy. He declared that the EU trade policy was founded on the principle of free trade, and Hungary – being an open economy – had nothing to fear from free trade.

Minister Martonyi claimed that it is natural that the EU itself seeks further cooperation outside its borders since a large part of the global GDP is produced outside Europe. This opening should be essentially targeted towards three regions: EU candidate countries, the Russian Federation and Turkey.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)