Hungarian FM: W Europeans want to undermine CEE’s competitive edge
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Western Europeans are mounting legal and political attacks in an attempt to undermine central Europe’s competitive edge, Páter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in Brussels on Tuesday, insisting they were envious of CEE countries’ ability to attract investments from the East.
“Security threats largely undermine free trade, while political and ideological attacks threaten the free flow of investments”, affecting export economies like Hungary’s, Szijjártó told a press conference after a European Union Council meeting on trade affairs.
He said Hungary supported a global investment facilitation agreement to be adopted by the World Trade Organisation at its next meeting. This would undercut political and ideological obstacles in the way of the free flow of investments, he added.
Szijjártó reiterated Hungary’s objection to de-risking — essentially separating the Chinese and European economies — saying this was “an artificial political intervention” which went against Europe’s economic interests.
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Mr. Szijjártó may have missed that Hungary in a European Union context is still qualified as a “developing country”, which among others means companies setting up shop here may be eligible for legal state aid. Look at all that (EU) money on the table! And again, we are a TAKER, it is those Western Europeans who are the Contributors to the EU:
https://www.pwc.com/c1/en/cee-in-the-spotlight/the-energy-transition-in-cee-balancing-energy-security-growth-and-the-green-agenda.html
And – for years to come:
https://www2.deloitte.com/hu/en/pages/operations/articles/european-commission-approved-regional-aid-map-for-hungary.html
All the various advisors advocate the EU money pot. EY even hired the former CEO of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) to better explain the “icing on the cake”:
https://www.ey.com/en_hu/news/2022/10/robert-esik-will-further-support-companies-as-a-partner-at-ey
And Hungary is an EU Member – free trade and all that. Without this – well. Not so great, right?