Orbán: V4 slated to be ‘influential’ in European politics if they grow as a bloc

The Visegrád Four countries must try to grow together as a bloc and if they succeed in that they are slated to become “a player” in global economy and politics, as they will also become influential in European politics, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, opening a Budapest office of a Polish PR firm on Thursday.

Economic and trade relations between Germany and the Visegrad countries of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are expanding at a faster pace than between Germany and China, he said at the R4S public relations and public affairs firm’s event.

This means that “here is the dynamics and the future, and here is the prospect of growth” and “this is the moment the V4 must seize”, Orbán said.

He praised Hungarian-Polish cooperation in politics and culture, adding that bilateral economic relations were not sufficient mainly due to a language barrier.

“Hungarians don’t learn Polish, whereas learning Hungarian is a quite hopeless attempt, we don’t want to speak Russian, they [the Poles] don’t want to speak in German, so the only option is using English,” Orbán said.

The prime minister hailed the opening of R4S’s office in Budapest, expressing hope that it would help promote business cooperation.

He highlighted the importance of personal business relations between Hungarians and Poles, saying that “there is a lot at stake right now”.

Orbán argued that either central Europeans would organise the region “between the Russian and German world” or “someone else will and there are always takers for it”.

Concerning key differences between western and central Europe, Orbán said that when asked how they wanted to make a living “western Europeans always say loans while central Europeans say work”.

“If the V4 make this their standard reply then come whatever economic crisis in Europe, the grouping will be successful,” he said.

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Source: MTI