If Hungary wants to increase its competitiveness it has to tolerate criticism and fight each debate even if "its chances to win are limited with regard to the size of the country", Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a lecture in Munich on Thursday, but added that he hoped the next few years will be a success story for the country.

Speaking at the seat of Bavaria's business federation, Orban said that it is not in international papers that Hungary needs to win battles. "We must win in the real world… our only true friends are facts and reality. Hungary's economy must be successful and it must yield its results," he said.

The prime minister said that Hungarians were at their best in emergency situations and insisted that "when it looks all hopeless they pull themselves together and build a success story".

Concerning the speed with which the Hungarian government was taking reform measures Orban said that if the process is slow, the reforms may elicit resistance and the process will require political compromises to go on. "We discuss them, make a decision, and introduce them irreversibly," he said. "If we fail to grab the great historic moments to make the big changes together, later we cannot make them because of divergence in individual views," Orban insisted.

On the subject of remarks concerning the European Commission in an address he had delivered on Hungary's March 15 national holiday, Orban said that he had "great respect" for the Commission, but added that "it must not be a respect overlooking all facts". He added, however, that he would never make a comparison between Brussels and the Soviet Union - as some interpretations of his address suggested.

He said that Germany remained very supportive towards Hungary to date, adding that without that support Hungary might not be standing firm on its feet.

(MTI)