The next Hungarian government will remain deeply dedicated to preserving the historical Hungarian-Polish friendship, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Monday after meeting his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk.
Over the past four years, Hungarian-Polish friendship has stood the test of time even in the toughest situations, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Warsaw, at his first visit abroad following his recent election victory.
He thanked Donald Tusk for Poland’s support and reiterated that Central Europe will be an engine of growth in the European economy in the years ahead, as also reflected in the latest EU forecasts. Similarly to the past four years, the Hungarian government’s foreign policy will focus on Central Europe in the upcoming years, Prime Minister Orbán said.
Hungary was able to make a major contribution to Central Europe’s economic performance last year and this will endure, he added.
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Prime Minister Tusk noted that Viktor Orbán made his first foreign visit abroad to Poland after his election victory in 2010 as well, and his visit this time underlined the traditionally excellent Hungarian-Polish relations. This has also brought excellent results in regional policy, also in terms of the Visegrad Four cooperation of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, he added.
Prime Minister Tusk praised Hungary’s V4 presidency, which will end in June 2014, noting that the V4 shows the best example of developing a common energy policy.
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Prime Minister Orbán said he supports the energy union proposed by the Polish Prime Minister. Central Europe is now in a better position from the aspect of energy independence but “our situation is not problem-free”. Energy policy in Hungary is not a matter of feelings or even a political question but “the most burning practical reality,” the Hungarian Prime Minister said. Hungary either sustains the ratio of nuclear energy in its mix or must expand gas imports from Russia.
The aim of the Hungarian government is to reduce the significance of gas imports from Russia in the country’s energy mix. Viktor Orbán noted that thanks to the Slovak-Hungarian gas interconnector, gas of non-Russian origin will be arriving in Hungary from next January on.
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Commenting on energy integration, Polish Prime Minister Tusk said energy independence is important at EU and regional (V4) level, adding that the monopoly must be broken to ensure that neither Russia nor any other country may exert pressure.
The crisis in Ukraine was also discussed by the two Heads of Government and it was agreed that Hungarian and Polish challenges are similar in this respect, given that both countries had national minorities living in the troubled country. Both Hungary and Poland have an interest in seeing a peaceful solution to the crisis, it was concluded.
(Prime Minister’s Office)
