29 January 2014, Budapest

Greetings to all of you, good afternoon!

Let us begin with the incontrovertible! Few nations are linked by such a close and legendary historical bond as the Polish and the Hungarians. And we often look for opportunities to jointly express this friendship. Most recently, on 23 October our Polish friends also celebrated the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, for which I would also like to take this opportunity to express my thanks. In addition to our historical friendship, I would also like to add a personal comment regarding the fact that the leaders of Poland today, including Prime Minister Tusk, are the heroes of our youth. It was, after all, from the Polish that we learnt, it was they from whom the anti-communist generation in the eighties copied, from whom we learnt how to topple the communist system, and for this reason many people from recent Polish history remain our personal good friends today, and this is one of the reasons why it is an honour for us when they visit Hungary.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Prime Minister Tusk is also here on this occasion so that we may cultivate, deepen and further expand this longstanding good relationship. The Prime Ministers of the Visegrád nations have long been in agreement with regard to the fact that Central Europe has one of the most significant potentials for growth within the European Union, within a European Union that is suffering from the crisis, and in our view our weight will increase in the future. And Poland is the defining economic and political force of the whole of Central Europe. This is why it is important to us that Poland be successful, and I would indeed like to take this opportunity to congratulate Prime Minister Tusk on the successes achieved by Poland in recent years. I would like to remind Hungarian public opinion that when economic growth ceased throughout the European Union, including here in Hungary, Poland was the only green oasis – countries with growth are usually indicated by the colour green in statistics – the only green oasis that was capable of achieving unparalleled success within the field of economic growth even during the years of the crisis.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, we have been discussing the opportunities for further cooperation. We have exchanged our experiences. I too have shared with Prime Minister Tusk the knowledge that I have managed to accumulate during the past three-and-a-half to four years, and which can be summarised by saying that Hungary can only be successful within the European Union if we dare to forge new paths, apply new solutions and generally do something other that the measures that eventually drove Hungary and the whole of the European Union into an economic crisis. This is the moment when Prime Minister Tusk will perhaps allow me to reflect on the fact that the latest employment figures were published this morning and they clearly indicate the growth that has resulted in more than one hundred thousand new jobs over the past year and the tendency that points to a reduction in the unemployment rate, which has now fallen to around nine percent.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have also held important discussions on energy issues. This is a fresh topic, a hot potato. Pertly because the European Union has just published its energy policy report and the European Union will be dealing with this issue in the coming months. And to us it is important because the reduction in public utility charges is one of the most important issues in Hungary, which we will continue despite the fact that Brussels often – as it also did very recently – voices its aversion with relation to this issue. This is not what we discussed primarily today, however, as it is a Hungarian issue that we are defending the policy of reducing public utility charges even against Brussels, and this is something we will continue to do. The topics of our discussions today had a much wider scope and involved competitiveness. We perhaps were also in agreement regarding the fact that the key issue for the future of European energy policy is whether it will be capable of supplying the reindustrialising or pre-reindustrialisation European economy with energy at competitive prices, because we Europeans will not be capable of keeping up with either the Russians or the Americans, and if things continue like this then not with the Chinese either, if the economies there have access to energy at significantly lower prices than we do here in the European Union, including in our countries.

In addition, Ladies and Gentlemen, we also talked about the fact that Hungary now regrets the decision it made in 2009 to close the consulate general in Krakow. This was a mistaken decision. We have reviewed this state of affairs, and with the support of Prime Minister Tusk work is now at a stage whereby we will be reopening the Hungarian Consulate General in Krakow this spring. We would like to express our thanks to Prime Minister Tusk for his support in this issue. I would like to inform you that we would like to increase trade turnover between our two countries in future, and this requires suitable instruments. Both countries have banks that are involved in export financing, and we will be asking the management of these banks to successfully conclude as soon as possible their ongoing negotiations on a credit facility totalling some two to three hundred million euros.

We also discussed the fact that the establishment of north-south connection systems is of vital importance to Europe, and certainly to Central Europe, whether with regard to transport or energy systems. We are, as you know, in the process of building a joint gas pipeline with Slovakia, and we would also like to connect the Hungarian gas network to the Polish gas system as soon as possible. Similarly, we are also urging and realising the development projects which are required to enable travel from Hungary to Poland across various points along the border using major routes, highways and motorways. This is not the case today. This is a historical error, a historical error that is clearly related to communism, which we must correct, and we are committed to enabling this to occur at the earliest opportunity.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Prime Minister Donald Tusk for the support that he has always and under all circumstances provided to Hungarian causes during the past four-five years.

Thank you for being here with us today, Prime Minister!

[In reply to a question from journalist László Szimicsku (MTI) on energy policy and increasing energy security]

We have also discussed concrete issues and reinforced some earlier agreements. I have already assured Prime Minister Tusk that Hungary will be supporting the standpoint that is represented by Poland in European debates concerning shale gas. We have also agreed previously, and have reinforced this agreement today, that we regard nuclear energy as clean energy, and accordingly every member state of the European Union has a right to include it in suitable proportions within its energy system. And as a new element, we also discussed the issue of competitiveness and agreed on the fact that the price of the energy made available to the economy must be made cheaper within Europe, and efforts must be made to enable Europe to also find the tools required to achieve this. As a Hungarian, meaning not as part of our joint statement, I would like to tell you that we do not believe that every member state of the European Union is capable of following the path that Hungary is currently on, meaning that we are making energy prices cheaper for households – and we will be doing so later also for industry and the economy by the way – through the state regulation of prices. What we want is not for everyone to accept our standpoint. All we would like is for nobody to want to take away from us the tools with which we are capable of achieving results, and accordingly I have also told Prime Minister Tusk that we will be standing up for the Hungarian standpoint in the strongest terms possible, and we will not relinquish the tools that we have available for the state regulations of energy prices. In other words, we will not forego the reduction of energy prices in favour of the fact that there will perhaps at some point in the future exist a uniform energy market in Europe that will perhaps, at some point bring with it a reduction in prices. By the time that comes into existence I will be an old age pensioner, and we do not have time to stand around waiting for it to happen. For this reason, we require state mechanisms with which we can serve the interests of the people of Hungary. I repeat: we do not believe that everyone would be in a position to apply such measures; our standpoint is simply that we have a right to apply these mechanisms. We also discussed this issue with Prime Minister Tusk.

[In reply to a question from a Polish news agency on Ukraine]

I would like to add just one thought to this issue. Until very recently, Ukraine's accession to the European Union was an abstract and theoretical issue for the Hungarians; would they or wouldn't they? And many people thought that this issue had no direct effect or influence on our lives. The events of the past few days have shown that this is a misconception. What happens in Ukraine does indeed also have a direct effect on our lives. We are talking about a country that, similarly to Poland, is also a neighbour to us, the Hungarians. And the danger of chaos and anarchy is here at the borders of Hungary. This is a country that has a border with Hungary. Not to mention the fact that many Hungarians also live there. It is a country that could easily slip into anarchy. And a neighbour that slips into anarchy represents one of the most serious challenges possible for any country, including Hungary. And things have turned serious, so we must take action. And I am glad that the Prime Minister of Poland, in accordance with earlier tradition, because the Polish also played a pioneering role in the case of the Eastern Partnership, so I am glad that Poland has continued this fine tradition and has taken the lead in these initiatives, and I am glad that there will be substantive negotiations between the four Visegrád prime ministers this evening. And I hope, as you stated in your question, that we shall also be issuing a joint statement and setting down concrete recommendations.

[Deputy State Secretary for Communications Ferenc Kumin announces that the two Prime Ministers are to exchange gifts. Viktor Orbán receives a relief depicting István Báthory, while Donald Tusk receives an antique poster from 1948 commemorating the Week of Hungarian-Polish Friendship.]

Let me show this to you. Here! In return, please allow me to remind you that the Polish and Hungarian presidency of the European Union followed each other consecutively. We both did an excellent job. And it was also an opportunity to make gestures towards each other. I rolled a barrel of wine all the way to Warsaw, and in return I received a sword from the people of Poland, which I would like to indicate I have been doing my best to swing industriously in these past years in accordance with my promise. However, the upcoming period will perhaps be a more peaceful one, and so now I too would like to use a work of art to express Hungary's respect for Poland. This was issued here in Hungary in commemoration of the 1848 revolution and war of independence, or rather to mark its 100th anniversary, and it represents the friendship between Hungary and Poland. It expresses it very well, and I thought hard as to whether it was a good idea to give a gift that derives from such suspiciously communist times. But I felt that the fact that in 1948, when we here in Hungary were already in trouble because of the Soviet occupation and the communists, that even during the period of occupation, if the Hungarians had any thoughts regarding Poland, they always concerned our friendship, our common fate through history, and this is what this work of art is a testimony to. I would ask, dear Donald, that you accept it in the spirit in which it is given and find a worthy place for it in Poland.

(Prime Minister’s Office)