PM Orbán’s political director: ‘Hungary must represent a policy of economic neutrality’

Hungary has to endorse a policy of economic neutrality amid a transformation on a global level which is going with the emergence of economic blocs, the prime minister’s political director told public radio on Sunday.

PM’s political director talks about Hungary’s economic neutrality

Hungary must be on alert to respond with the appropriate strategy in the ongoing enormous global transformation, Balázs Orbán said on Kossuth radio.

He said that certain “western liberal players” aimed to respond to the transformation by limiting the scope of action of their allies in political, military, economic, cultural and other aspects “because they want to prevent them from maintaining ties with countries outside the alliance,” he said. “The emergence of such blocs in the western world would mean for Hungary to come under the control of a bloc, lose its sovereignty which would result in the country’s losing the opportunity to develop,” the political director said, adding that “this must be avoided by all means”.

“We do not want confrontation between the blocs, we reject the policy of the formation of blocs as we also reject the regime of sanctions and ideology or geopolitics driven trade relations,” he said, adding that such an approach “will take Hungary into a situation that allows a dynamic economic growth and development in the coming decades”.

The political director said that Hungary had to defend itself against “the social pressure mounted by the West with the aim to enforce upon us a liberal, universalist western culture in which nation, family, religious and social communities are no longer valued”.

He said Hungary’s modernisation had to continue, insisting that without well-developed infrastructure and industry branches, and advancements in education and talent support the country “will lag behind and will not be able to further strengthen”.

The political director called maintaining Hungary’s sovereignty and broadening the country’s foreign ties important tasks for the next several years.

The political director said that competition was enormous not only for Chinese but for other investments as well. “Hungary performs well in this competition because, among other things, it communicates openly, addresses other countries with respect, openly states what its interests are, what its opportunities are, while others cannot succeed as they want to give a kind of ideological or geopolitical guise to building trade relations, he said.

Photo: FB/Balázs Orbán

Balázs Orbán added that the policy that first made Hungary one of the most important trade partners for Germany and the German-speaking world must be maintained.

The Americans are still present in Hungary to a “significant extent”, cooperation is strong, there is hope this can be strengthened in the future, he said, adding and in recent years “an Asian leg has appeared” in the Hungarian economy. In addition to the Japanese, South Korean, Chinese and other investors have also appeared, while Hungarian companies have also found markets in Central Asia and the Far East, he added.

“These are all results that will show their everyday benefits in the coming years, when people will notice that Hungarian wages are rising, Hungarian jobs are protected, and the Hungarian supply chain is becoming stronger and stronger.”

Talking about the Russian-Ukraine war, he said that according to books, these types of military conflicts are always resolved by restoring communication channels and establishing short-term ceasefires, these create an international environment where there is a chance to reach a long-term solution.

Asked whether the European elite’s attitude towards Hungary would change, the political director said that “the liberals have serious positions in the European political leadership, and we are working against the wind,” but “in European politics in this situation too, there must be an allied policy and strategy on how to enforce their own interests”.

Orban said there had been progress made on this issue in the past months as the Patriots for Europe (PoE) European parliamentary group had been established. “Also, Hungary is now holding the rotating EU presidency and these are serious opportunities that must be tapped.”

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