25 January, 2013. Kecskemét
Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen! Mr. President!
It is with respect that I greet the City's leaders, his honour the Mayor, the plant's management, and a special welcome to the factory's workers. When I was a child, the roads were full of Trabants, Skodas, Wartburgs and Moskvitches, and the height of luxury was the Volga. I myself learned to drive on a Polish-made Fiat 500. And if at the time someone would have told me that we would be manufacturing Mercedes' in Hungary, I would have though he was a little off his head.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
When the company's President and I look at this car, although we both have the car in front of us, we see different things. I am sure that the President sees the excellence of German engineering in the car; that huge economic strength and technological knowledge that has made Germany great. But when I, the Prime Minister of Hungary look at this car, I see workers; lots and lots of Hungarian workers. Talented and hard-working Hungarian workers who are capable of manufacturing a car of this kind; not abroad, not as migrant workers, but here in Hungary, at home, working in their own factory in their own city. This is a wonderful thing; it gives us strength and is proof for Hungary. Because if we are capable of manufacturing a car of this quality, if we can say that a Mercedes like this is 'Made in Hungary', where this car is manufactured by workers and engineers who have learned their profession in Hungary and not by migrant workers, then Hungary need not be afraid of any kind of challenge that awaits it in future. I also feel that it is proof of something else. I'm sure you remember that during the past two years the people of Hungary have had to do a lot of hard work, and sometimes a lot of very very hard work, so that we could reorganise the country and not just save it from the credit crisis, but also provide it with a future. The people of Hungary got the job done. This is proof of the fact that we are capable of putting our own economy in order, that there is a way out, that there is opportunity for growth, that we indeed can create thousands of jobs despite the environment caused by the crisis, if we find the right partners to cooperate with. Two success stories meet here today: one is a well-known success story called Mercedes, and the other is a new success story, a new European success story called the renewal of the Hungarian economy.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
If I look at this car, and think not of the workers, but of the car's design, then two words come to mind: strength and beauty.
Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. President, respected engineers, honoured Workers!
This is exactly the kind of Hungary we want; a strong and attractive Hungary like this. My thanks once again to the investors; thank you to the Germans, who have shown their confidence in Hungary, and above all thank you to the Hungarian workers for again and again proving to the world that it is worth coming to and cooperating with Hungary.
Congratulations and thank you!
(The Prime Minister's Office)
