Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Speech at the Press Announcement regarding the Procurement of 500 New Heavy Goods Vehicles by Hungarian Haulier Waberer's International

Greetings to everyone, Good Afternoon!

Mr. Wáberer [Chairman and CEO of Waberer's International Pte. Co. György Wáberer] spoke about my presence being an honour. I would instead talk about why I was happy to come here today. I told him a little earlier during our negotiations that I would have rather resented it if I had not been invited to attend this occasion because, continuing on from where he left off, the best thing about successes of this nature is working together. Because it is undoubtedly the case that for a company to achieve what Waberer's has achieved requires a group of talented people who dream up and establish a company like this. It needs a small group of talented people who manage it and it needs many committed and talented people who do the work, meaning who do not perform management tasks on a daily basis at the wheel of the company. Of course in this case, everyone who works for the company works at the wheel, because everyone not involved in management drives a truck. And so it needs people who run the company, and the most important lesson for economic policy over the past four years is that the government cannot run the economy, meaning that in the modern world no government is capable of running an economy. A government can regulate the economy, it can encourage the economy and it can influence it, but only enterprises can actually run it. And within those companies a key role is played by the people who take responsibility for the company, and in addition to this, I had a few other reasons for accepting Mr. Wáberer's invitation.

The first reason is that since childhood practically all Hungarian men are attracted to trucks. I don't know the reason for this, but it is somehow always a good feeling to visit a truck depot. Secondly, I have come to congratulate a representative of a related profession, because being Prime Minister and driving a big lorry are similar on many points. Lorry drivers cannot change their routes, and this is also the recommended course of action for most governments. Just like a consignment of goods travelling by lorry, a government must reach the destination agreed on for the goods. After four years, a government must also arrive at the destination agreed upon with the electorate prior to the elections. And another reason why being a truck driver and being in government or being Prime Minister are related professions is that a tiny mistake is often enough to cause serious trouble. And a small mistake can often cause a huge accident, so this is another thing that awakens a feeling of sympathy within us.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The third reason I was happy to come here today is that we are in fact here to celebrate. I can think of very few Hungarian companies that after twenty or so years of hard work can state that they are among the frontrunners in the European competition within their specific field. And Mr. Wáberer's group of companies can indeed safely state that not only has it stayed afloat in the European competition but it is in a medal-winning position, and if the next government practices a good economic policy and they remain as committed as they have been during the past four years, then we have high hopes of moving forward even further within the international market. I also congratulated Mr. Wáberer personally on his career, because although of course we are celebrating the company today and not him personally, it is no accident that the company is named after him, and I mentioned to him that this is what should have happened in the case of every privatised Hungarian company. What was written in the stars what not necessarily that companies that were otherwise competitive in Europe would be privatised and suddenly disappear after a year or two, their assets sold, and that the country's economic activity in the given field would simply cease to exist. Things should instead have occurred in the way they happened in his case, because this success story, in whose history we are celebrating an important milestone together here today, began with the privatisation and modernisation of companies that were formerly state-owned. Mr. Wáberer mentioned that it is almost impossible to travel around Western Europe today without eventually seeing one of the company's trucks. This is true, and it somehow always gives Hungarian people a feeling of joy, or at least is definitely does for me. I usually flash my headlights or turn on the warning lights; it is somehow a good feeling to see that the Hungarian lorry drivers of a Hungarian company are travelling around the world and you are not alone, but some of your other compatriots are there too. And they are not on private business like you usually are, but have occupied Europe's highways for work purposes.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr. Wáberer also told you that we have concluded a strategic cooperation agreement. I can tell you in the name of the Hungarian Government that the period since the signing of our agreement has proven that we have put our money on the right horse, that this is a company that is capable of further development and that is really is a company that is strategically important to the Hungarian economy. Let me repeat what we have heard. 500 new heavy goods vehicles and 600 new jobs, and I would like to take the words of the Chairman and CEO that we have heard today as a promise and add my own promise. I am happy to publicly undertake to continue our strategic cooperation with Waberer's International Pte. Co., and just as we have done during the past year we will step-by-step, slowly incorporate the suggestions and recommendations you put forward with regard to Hungarian economic policy so that we can enable the advantages that are derived partly from Hungary's favourable geographical location and partly from the performance of Hungarian people who have a talent for transport and logistics, to also appear as profit for the Hungarian national economy.

Please allow me to congratulate Mr. Wáberer, and through him to wish every employee of the company good luck and a good trip to all the lorry drivers who will be taking charge of one of these new HGV's, and we very much hope that we will be able to attend many similar occasions of this kind and that in the upcoming years increasing numbers of Hungarian enterprises show their lion's claws with which they are capable of standing their ground in the international competition. International companies are very important and there can be no Hungarian economy without them, but it is a different feeling entirely when Hungarian-owned enterprises join the ranks of the Hungarian economy's strategic partners. We would like to see as many similar celebrations as possible in the upcoming years.

Once again, Mr. Wáberer, please allow me to congratulate you and the company's management and employees and wish you further success in the future!

(Prime Minister’s Office)