Minister: “Sanctions have shot the European economy first in the foot and later in the knee”

Hungary continues to support cultured cooperation between East and West and the government opposes all plans and measures that aim to sever ties, the foreign minister said in Valencia on Friday.

The ministry cited Szijjártó saying at the informal meeting of European Union ministers in charge of trade that in recent years, the EU’s competitiveness had deteriorated as a result of the various crises and Brussels’ ill-concieved responses to them.

“Sanctions have shot the European economy first in the foot and later in the knee,” and the US economic rescue measures also worked against Europe’s interest, he added.

“Today we pay four times as much for gas in Europe as the Americans do and three times as much for electricity as the price in China,” he said.

The structure of world economy is changing and the great transformation means that the West has lost its automatic advantage in competition, he added.

The east has gained in strength and caught up with the west in terms of finances and technology, and has overtaken the west in terms of human resources, he said.

Szijjártó said the question was whether by the reformation of blocs the EU wanted to close itself off from the fast-developing east or maintains its trust in an open world economy and cooperation where and when it is needed.

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The EU suffocates the European car industry?

“We Hungarians are against the formation of blocs because we have very bad historical experiences about them,” he said.

The economies of the east and west rely on each other more than any time before, he added.

Hungary includes production bases by all three premium car maker brands from Germany and five of the world’s ten largest electric battery makers have expressed their dedication to Hungary, he said.

“If we do not allow German or western European car makers to cooperate with Chinese suppliers, then we will practically suffocate the whole of Europe’s car industry,” Szijjártó said. And if we suffocate Europe’s car industry, we will destroy Europe’s economy,” he added.

Hungary will make every effort to prevent measures in Europe that destroy cooperation or make it impossible between European and eastern car industry companies, he said.