Informal meeting of EU heads of state and government approves Orbán’s initiative

A competitiveness pact dubbed the Budapest Declaration submitted by the Hungarian presidency of the European Union was approved at the informal meeting of EU heads of state and government in Budapest on Friday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a press conference after the meeting. He added that it was necessary to “make Europe great again”.

Orbán condemned “anti-Semitic attacks” in Amsterdam

At a joint press conference with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council Charles Michel, Orbán said that on behalf of Hungary he condemned the “anti-Semitic attacks” that had taken place in Amsterdam on Thursday.

The attack was unacceptable also to Hungarians, he said. Orbán added that Budapest, where Europe’s largest synagogue was only “a stone’s throw away” from the city’s largest Catholic cathedral, was a meeting place of different cultures, East and West, North and South, which made the city “uniquely tolerant”. “That’s why we live together in peace and security here in Budapest, and I wish Amsterdam’s residents to succeed with the same,” he added.

“We will fight our battles in Brussels”

Commenting on the EU summit, Orbán said it was common knowledge that there are serious political conflicts between the EC and Hungary and he had also had disputes with von der Leyen. At the same time, he said the EC president was this time a guest in Budapest and she deserved a polite welcome and respect, so there had been no disputes at all at the meeting.

“We will fight our battles in Brussels,” he said.

Informal meeting approves key document

Orbán said there was full consensus about the main topic of the summit, which was competitiveness, and a competiveness pact had been approved in line with the Hungarian presidency’s goal. He referred to the document as the “Budapest declaration” and thanked all the related work of his colleagues, the president of the commission, the president of the European Council, and Mario Draghi who had prepared a report on competitiveness.

The document places a focus on competitiveness in the next five years, and states that immediate action is needed, he said.

The growth of the European Union was slower in the past two decades than the growth of China or the US, and the EU’s productivity is growing slower than its competitors’, with the EU’s share in world trade decreasing. EU companies pay three times higher price for electricity and four times higher price for natural gas than their US competitors, he added.

Simplification revolution needed

Outlining a number of points of the Budapest Declaration on competitiveness, Orbán said a “simplification revolution” would be implemented and companies’ reporting obligations would be “drastically reduced” by the end of the first half of 2025. A capital market union will be implemented in full, a European defence industry base will be established, urgent measures will be taken to bring down energy prices and a “genuine” industrial policy will take shape in the coming period, he added.

Orbán said everybody at the summit had agreed that R+D spending should be raised to 3 percent of GDP by 2030.

He said the capital market union would be fully implemented.

Orbán said Europeans’ savings totalled more than Americans’ but Europeans keep their savings in banks and banks are “genetically” unsuitable for financing various high-risk high-tech investments.

Bank deposits should be transferred to capital funds, European citizens should be convinced to do this in order to make the money more easily available for innovative economic solutions, he said. Steps will be taken to achieve this, the prime minister added.

European defence industrial base will be established

Orbán said it had been decided that a European defence industrial base would be established.

He said that it had been agreed that an assessment or so-called competitiveness test would be prepared for all new legislative proposals, in order to see their impact of new legal regulations on competitiveness.

He added that the EC president and the members of the Council were in agreement that competitiveness issues would be regularly addressed at the meetings of the European Council.

The prime minister said teh Budapest meeting gave reason for optimism. “Nobody wants to manage a decline, rather we all want to make Europe great again,” he added. Orbán said that if the Americans had decided to make America great again, the only possible European response was to “make Europe great again”.

In response to a question concerning why competitiveness had not been improved and bureaucracy reduced already despite these being among the Lisbon Treaty’s goals, Ursula von der Leyen said that huge transformation had taken place in competitiveness, for instance in research and development. The performance of the various European sectors has been reviewed at the talks, identifying the strengths and weaknesses, she added.

She said red tape and reporting obligations would be cut and a related joint proposal would be submitted to parliament and the council.

Economic questions

Commenting on planned talks with the US president-elect on trade, she said relations would be continually maintained and consultations are planned on shared interests. She said one such area was the purchase of liquefied natural gas, adding that a large amount of it was still being purchased from Russia, and it should be replaced by purchases from the US. This could also help reduce energy prices, Von der Leyen said and added that consultations should be started about this, as well as on the trade balance.

Answering a question, President of the European Council Charles Michel said that energy in the EU was a national competence but the member states should still act together to reduce prices. It must be taken into consideration that energy is a means of sovereignty and also a strategic issue, he said.