LMP: VW scandal indicates Hungary’s “vulnerability”

Budapest, October 7 (MTI) – The recent scandal around Volkswagen cars indicates the “serious vulnerability” of Hungary and especially some of its regions, the co-leader of green LMP told a press conference in central Hungary’s Kecskemet on Wednesday.

The scandal, said Andras Schiffer, has shown that the capacity of a company providing jobs for a whole region could be significantly reduced by “factors entirely independent of the Hungarian economy”.

Schiffer insisted that Hungary’s economy was “distorted” in the sense that local economies were based on large international companies, whose appearance stimulated local suppliers, whereas in other countries demand by a strong local economy attracted foreign investors. Consequently, if a large foreign investor reduces its capacity in Hungary or pulls out of the country, it will have detrimental ramifications for local small and medium-size ventures.

Schiffer condemned what he saw as a practice of “stuffing” multi-nationals with money under all governments in the past 25 years. He argued that Apollo Tyres had received 30 million forints, Audi 25 million and Daimler 12 million from central coffers to create a single job at their plants in Hungary, while job creation subsidies to local companies amounted to less then one tenth of that total.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters