Orbán and Irish PM: strong national economies make strong EU

The European Union will be a strong community if it is made up of strong individual national economies, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after talks with Leo Varadkar, his Irish counterpart, in Budapest on Thursday.

“If we want to have a strong EU, each of us will have to do our own bit on the home front,” Orbán said.

Concerning Brexit, Orbán assured Varadkar of Hungary’s support for Ireland’s special viewpoints in talks with the EU.

The meeting of the two prime ministers also focused on the current situation of the EU, taxation, migration and agricultural policy, as well as Brexit.

On the subject of migration, Orbán said that “Hungary is not against any other country but it insists on retaining its own identity, culture and achievements”.

He said that Schengen rules must be enforced and the bloc’s external borders kept “protected and closed” in order to keep the internal borders open.

Concerning taxes, Orbán said that harmonising taxes at a European level would not be good because “taxation is an important component of competition”.

Referring to the EU farm policy, Orbán said Hungary would not want to see changes to its main pillars and the farming sector should “receive the same [subsidies] in the future as were granted in previous years”.

Orbán also praised Ireland for having resolved its financial difficulties over the past ten years. “Dublin has come a long way and Hungary takes its hat off to that achievement.”