National interests can be protected in a peaceful way that is acceptable for the great powers as well, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview recorded in Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő) on July 27 and aired by Romanian all-news channel Digi 24 on Saturday evening.

He stated that he had no intention of criticising the great powers, he only aimed to call attention to the need of medium-sized countries to keep their self-generated resources within their own borders to offset the drain-effect of large powers. He said that EU integration is a good response to global processes but Central European countries, which have great growth potential, should have been admitted to the bloc 10 years earlier. Introducing the common currency had put the EU to a halt, and the monetary union was not followed by a banking and budgetary one, he added.

The Prime Minister pointed out that at the time of his first premiership (1998-2002) the EU had been an optimistic and brave community, but by 2010, the second time he took office, it had become pessimistic and uncertain. It still remains to be seen whether the EU can find the road to growth the way the United States has.

He said an opening towards the East is well on the agenda as Hungary's external economic relations are heavily slanted towards the EU, which represents some 70-78%.

"The Hungarian state export bank has been completely reorganised and provided with funds, so that financing can be matched to Eastern ties," he said.

Prime Minister Orbán emphasised that Hungarian-Russian relations were prospering, while the Government has been able to reduce the country's energy dependency as well. Hungary also aims at strategic cooperation with China, too, he added.

He said regarding Hungary's relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that as opposed to market sources, the IMF held conditions to its loans which made national economic policy difficult to maintain.

(Prime Minister's Office)