Hungarian minister warns against American, Chinese expansion in the electric vehicle sector

Márton Nagy, the national economy minister, held talks in Brussels on Thursday with Martin Kocher, his Austrian counterpart, in preparation for Hungary’s upcoming EU presidency, the ministry said in a statement.

Nagy and Kocher were in agreement that trade relations between Hungary and Austria were strong, and they discussed challenges related to the green transition and electric vehicle production, the statement said.

Austria has been Hungary’s third most important trading partner in recent years, and Austrian companies are the second biggest group of investors in the country, Nagy said.

He called for maximising every possible means to boost the European Union’s competitiveness and develop its industry, highlighting electric vehicle production and artificial intelligence as key sectors. The number of EVs reached 14 million in 2023, 58 percent of which were sold in China, he said, adding that the US EV market was also surging, while the EU was falling behind.

Nagy said Europe needed to take steps to boost its EV sector by launching an EU-wide scheme to promote the adoption of electric vehicles. He said Europe needed to dedicate itself to supporting the EV sector instead of a “general and ideological approach” to the green and digital transition.

Making Europe the leader in electric vehicle production and maintaining its competitiveness against the American and Chinese expansion in the sector was a shared interest, the ministry said, adding that Nagy had asked Kocher to support speeding up the green transition in the interest of Europe’s competitiveness.

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