Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Speech at the Inauguration of Simon Plastic Processing's New Plant

Perhaps it is best to begin by saying that I won't be competitive. Good afternoon everyone, Ladies and Gentlemen. But I would not like to be lonely either, so if you were to come a little closer that would perhaps help me. We are in a large, cold hall and one cannot expect warmth from anything except the other guests here, so please be so kind as to move a little closer to me.

Good afternoon to all of you, Ladies and Gentlemen.

We have gathered here today for a special occasion. I will not be giving a long speech, but there are nevertheless several things that we cannot pass over without mentioning. First of all, as you can read here behind me, this is an individual enterprise. It is as if these have died out in today's modern world, there are plenty of limited companies and joint-stock companies, but individual businesses of this size are very rare in Hungary. I would like to congratulate the owner, Mr. Simon, for having kept this wonderful enterprise in his family's hands. I have been to many places in recent years and I have seen many business histories that began with someone starting out, growing and expanding, until eventually the value they had created slipped out of the scope of authority of the family. Here we have heard a story that is exactly the opposite, and we heard Mr. Simon say a little earlier that this, the family business, is not just the past, but also the future. I am convinced that without strong families who have the ability to do enterprise and without family traditions, our homeland cannot be strong itself, and so I would be very happy if Mr. Simon's plans were to succeed. I would like the generation that follows him to prove to be at least as talented as he is, and I would like people to be aware of his example not just here in Koszárhegy, but that we should see increasing numbers of similar enterprises in other Hungarian settlements. Mr. Simon did not mention it, but I feel it is important to note that things were not always like this; he began working on his enterprise from a garage. To those with whom he is prepared to talk a little about the history of the business, he also shares a few details: in the mid-eighties, during the period when the seeds of private enterprise were beginning to be permitted in Hungary, this entrepreneur and this enterprise began working in a garage, all of which lead to the large-scale and important event we are celebrating today. This is an excellent example of the fact that it wasn't just through privatised state companies that it was possible to achieve significant success in the Hungarian private sector. Small and medium-sized enterprises indeed already existed in the nineteen eighties, who having learned the ropes of enterprise and climbed the ladder eventually arrived at the point we are at now, which we can simply call world class.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today's gathering is also important, and one of the reasons I have also come here is because we also have amongst us guests from Serbia and the former Southern Regions [of Hungary]. A heartfelt welcome to President István Pásztor, the leader of the Hungarian community there, and similarly cordial greetings to the Serbian guests who are here with him. As we have heard, the reason they are here is because Mr. Simon has got it into his head – and this is not a new thing among entrepreneurs from Székesfehérvár, although not in Serbia, but when I'm in Transylvania I often see factories with the sign "Karsai-works", the owner of which is also with us here today, and so this way of thinking is no stranger to the people who live in this area – that since they are successful here at home, in their homeland, then they will also try their luck in cross-border areas, in the neighbouring countries. We also wish Mr. Simon much success in this endeavour!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I also knew that I could not avoid the gentleman who spoke before me eventually mentioning other tender opportunities. This is why Minister of State Naszvadi [Minister of State for Public Finances at the Ministry of National Economy], who handles the state treasury, always does his best to reduce my various engagements, but the fact is that before meeting you here, we held a discussion with the owner of the business and we came to an agreement, or at least we expressed our common intent, with regard to further development projects. I can't promise that you should take what I say for granted, but you can perhaps take it as a strong bank guarantee, because we have with us after all Péter Szijjártó [State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations], and we have with us here János Berényi [President of the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency]; they are responsible for the development projects, tenders and programmes from which, as you can see from the writing behind me, Mr. Simon and his enterprise have also benefited. We also have another agreement with Mr. Simon, and which he also mentioned in short, and which concerns training; they would like to operate a training workshop, a vocational school. The Hungarian Government views the fact that the quality of vocational training has diminished in Hungary, and that we are slowly reaching the stage where the barriers of opportunity for Hungarian enterprises are not simply represented by a lack of capital and market difficulties, but also by the lack of an available, well-trained and truly applicable workforce, as one of the significant weaknesses of the Hungarian economy. The way in which we can help this situation, Ladies and Gentlemen, is on the one hand by reaching back to our own traditions and not being ashamed of the fact that these go back to communist times, because the quality of vocational training in Hungary was once very high. Vocational training institutions in Hungary functioned very well, our vocational high schools also functioned very well, and we see no reason for not renewing this tradition, because if we were capable of it in the past, we will surely be capable of it in the future. It is also true that this is no longer that economy, this is no longer that industry and this is no longer that Hungary, and that we must look to and find more modern forms of operation. This is one of the reasons we have borrowed several useful elements from the German vocational training system. And at this point I would like to express my gratitude to the Chamber [of Commerce] and to its County Chairman, because during recent years the Chamber helped us to launch this so-called dual German training system in Hungary, and I very much hope that over the course of the upcoming four years, God willing, and if the voters want us to, we will be able to bring this programme to fruition.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Hungarian people, and especially Hungarian entrepreneurs, or at least the successful ones, usually don't like to praise their own work, and so the task is left to us. Hungarian people usually feel that if they talk about their own, otherwise well-deserved successes, then they are somehow intruding, or committing some other ethical error, when in fact the Hungarians must also learn that if we do not talk about our own success, then no one else will. There is a saying in our profession that praising our own achievements is so important that it cannot be entrusted to others. I recommend to Hungary's entrepreneurs that they think about this realisation, because they must learn to at least praise each other and perhaps even their own performance too. Even a good wine needs a good shop sign. I'm sure I could come up with a few more similar Hungarian sayings, but I would ask that you further the reputation of each other, because this is something that all of you can gain strength from. The younger generation, who are just starting up their own business, can learn from such examples.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Another reason why it is good to come to such events is because one finds kindred spirits. I heard a little earlier a sentence that I also say and use regularly when I get home late at night without having said so in advance. And if I quote our host correctly, it went something like: our work is the kind that you can stop doing but never finish, you feel as if you've completed something, but your mind is already thinking about the next task. There are quite a few of us who think like this in Hungary, many more than we would otherwise imagine, people who provide the engine, the motor, the driving force of an economy. I am glad to have the opportunity to be in the company of similar people here today.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I must also say a few words about various facts. We are here today at a celebration organised by a Hungarian enterprise. The followers of liberal economic dogmas profess that the world fashion is what we must naturally accept and this is how we must be part of the world order, that capital is capital and it is not permitted – from a legal perspective certainly – to differentiate between foreigner and Hungarian, and thinking in that manner is not right either. I would argue with this statement, naturally. I accept that the legal situation in modern Europe and within the global economy is such that it is not permitted to realise legal discrimination on national grounds. I think that in a country like ours, which also wants to achieve success in other countries, which is of course certainly in our interests, but a man's essence is not just made up of their brain, but also of their heart, and so we must admit that while our brain accepts this modern economic dogma, our heart beats against it a little, just like with football teams, when we are happy that our team's imported player scores a goal, but if the goal is scored by someone was born and bred locally, then it somehow feels better. This is no different in the economy, Ladies and Gentlemen! Economic success is of course a good thing, but the best success is after all Hungarian economic success, when we feel that it is our boys who have achieved world-class results.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you to the owner and our host, Mr. Simon, for mentioning the fact that we have adventured around the world together on several occasions and we all see that the world is changing. The traditional markets of this enterprise are obviously also in Western Europe. And 75-80% of Hungarian exports also go to the countries of the European Union. However, we all see clearly that the global economy is in the meantime going through important changes, and we must learn from the other Western European countries who are mobilising more and more of their energies in the interests of finding new markets and opportunities to do business and get ahead in countries such as the ones Mr. Simon also mentioned, Turkey, China, India and Japan.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would therefore encourage the President [of the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency] to not refrain from joining us on the joint business trips we have ahead of us.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This project was realised at a cost of 550 million forints. 100 million forints of this was provided by EU funding, 130 million by a bank loan and 220 from the enterprise's own resources. In the material I received to help me prepare for today, there was an interview that István Simon gave sometime in 2012, in which he said that it is the own participation that makes a project serious. I think that there is much truth in that statement, and I'm afraid we could recall several examples of the opposite from the history of failures. Success can indeed be achieved where state funding is available and where of course the banks and financial institutions are prepared to provide financing, but also where some kind of own strength, some kind of own risk and own participation is also involved. It is these investments that can really be taken seriously.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are also celebrating the creation of 110 new jobs here today, and if my figures do not deceive me, dear Mr. Simon, then the number of people employed by the family business will as a result increase to 436. We are talking about the daily bread of 436 Hungarian families, Ladies and Gentlemen! This in itself is a number that calls on us, that requires us, to raise our hats before Mr. Simon's professional career.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We all know that we began from a difficult position in 2010. We all know that the country was up to its eyeballs in debt. We also know that our finances were not in order, and we also know that there was no strength for industrial development at the time, because we had to concentrate all of our energies on surviving the crisis. We are now beyond this stage, Ladies and Gentlemen! It is my firm belief that the upcoming period will lead us into a long era of growth. Providing we have the courage and the strength to step through this door, the gateway to a new era.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We of course also have an idea with regard to the future of the segment of the Hungarian economy to which Mr. István Simon's enterprise belongs, to which the Simon family's enterprise belongs. According to our calculations there are today somewhere in the region of two thousand small and medium-sized enterprises in Hungary that work for export and that are capable of standing on their own two feet and marketing their products and services abroad. Our plan, which is based on European examples of economic history, includes the fact that Hungary will be stable, will stand firmly on its own two feet, will have an economy that is impossible to topple and will be its own master if we are capable of increasing this number from two thousand to somewhere in the region of twelve thousand. The task ahead of us, Ladies and Gentlemen, is no less that to increase the number of Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises, who are capable of producing here at home and then marketing the products they manufacture here in Hungary abroad, by six hundred percent.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I think my duty is to wish the Simon family much success in the name of all of us. We have heard the family's plans. My wish for you is that the upcoming generation will be at least as diligent, talented and lucky as their father has been. I, of course, would not like to give the impression that I am not aware of the fact that there will be elections in Hungary on 6 April, as if I didn't know that whatever I say will all be translated by the media in this context. And so I would like to tell you that in 2010 we came to an agreement with Hungary's enterprises and we have kept to that agreement. We have been working together during these past years and this is why we, and as a result the whole of Hungary, are performing better than before, and this is the agreement we would like to renew on 6 April with Hungary's small and medium-sized enterprises so that the country can continue along this path, which has opened up before us these opportunities for the future. Do not forget, we have already lost an election in 2002. The slogan of those elections, or rather our message to the Hungarian electorate at those elections, was that the future has already begun. We were wrong, because it wasn't the future that began, but the past. I would recommend that we do not make this same mistake twice, let us not mix up our directions. We know what is forwards and what is backwards, let us recognise what is the past and what is the future, and let us join forces and step into that future together, into a future that holds great opportunities for Hungary, that holds great opportunities for Hungarians who want to do business and to people who want to make their livings working for such enterprises. The most I can tell you as encouragement, in summary of the work performed since 2010, is that Hungary once again has a future.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Those who believe that some things are impossible should come here to Koszárhegy and visit István Simon, who will tell you the story of how it is possible to establish a world-class factory after having started up a business in a garage. And then it will perhaps not seem like exaggerating to for people to say: we are Hungarian, we know everything there is to know about survival; let nobody tell us that a new beginning and achieving success following historical upheaval cannot be achieved or is impossible. In closing, I would like to thank our host for his kind invitation and I would like to pass on some of our good wishes to him. The Hungarians are shy, especially when it comes to money, and quite rightly, but while retaining the greatest modesty let us nevertheless state that our wish for István Simon and his family business is that it be successful and that the enterprise be capable of producing a nice, big, fat, healthy profit. Our wish is that he uses the profits generated in this way wisely. Our wish is that in addition to furthering the family itself, there be enough profits to enable the realisation of further investments and new projects. We thank István Simon for having used a significant part of the profits achieved thus far to support the civil community here, to support sport, to support culture and not least to create more and more jobs with which he provides an opportunity to make a living to hundreds of Hungarian families, and we ask that he continue doing so. May the good Lord keep István Simon in this good habit! God bless our host!

(Prime Minister’s Office)