27 February 2013, Budapest

Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Please allow me to inform you briefly with regard to the discussions we have held with President Herman Van Rompuy. I would first of all like the Hungarian public to know that we received an important friend of Hungary in the person of Mr. Van Rompuy for a meeting today. The preparation of the financial plan for the next seven years could not have been accomplished without the personal efforts of the President and his team. All of us, European, including we Hungarians must speak with great acknowledgment of the achievement with which he succeeded in combining the financial plans and intentions of almost thirty countries, and the national strategies that lie behind them into a single European financial plan, for which I would now like to again express my appreciation. Secondly, I would like to inform the people of Hungary that the President has always been open to those solutions with which Hungary tried and is continuing to try to stabilise the country and set its own economy and society on a path towards growth since 2010. Hungary has applied for the position of European success story, because there are very few of us within the European Union who are capable of simultaneously decreasing the national debt, keeping our annual budgets in check and setting the economy on a course towards growth. Hungary is performing better than ever before in five out of the six economic indicators that are important to us. The national debt is continuing to decrease, our budget deficit is below 3%, our export-import balance is extremely positive, our balance of payments is more than stable and employment figures, although more slowly than we would like, are also improving. The most recent data, from today or perhaps yesterday, shows that thirty thousand or so more people are employed than during the same period last year. Economic growth is what is missing from the Hungarian economy, and so the task for 2013 is to achieve economic growth. As I have told President Van Rompuy, we have a seriously good chance of achieving that. I personally have much greater expectations, greater than those that have been made public, with regard to this issue for 2013. With regard to the common issues we have with the European Union, I have assured Mr. Van Rompuy that the success of the eurozone is important for Hungary, and although we are not members of the eurozone we support every measure that the President and the countries that are members of the eurozone introduce in the interests of stabilising and reinforcing confidence in Europe's common currency. President Van Rompuy can therefore count on Hungary's support with regard to the banking union, with regard to financial-economic coordination, and in general with regard to any measures that are designed to reinforce the eurozone. However, Hungary would also ask that Mr. Van Rompuy, taking into account the fact that Hungary is not part of the eurozone and the difficulties that the Hungarian economy is experiencing includes various unique aspects precisely because of its communist past, be open towards and have understanding for those measures of Hungarian economic policy which may seem unorthodox from the point of view of nations that are part of the eurozone, but which are vital to the Hungarian economy. These include our tax reforms, measures to increase competitiveness and several other instruments of economic policy. I sincerely hope that, if it succeeds in achieving growth in 2013, the Hungarian economy can be a success story that will be important not only to Hungary, but will also show Europeans that even in times of crisis it is still possible to pursue a successful economic policy in a Central European country. At today's meeting we have therefore reinforced Hungary's commitment to the European Union. We have reinforced our intent to cooperate on the issue of the eurozone, and we have reinforced the political friendship that links Hungary to Brussels and the European Union, an important part of which is President Herman Van Rompuy, who we have been happy to welcome to Budapest today.

(Prime Minister’s Office)