Szijjarto dismissed suggestions that guest workers were taking jobs away from Hungarians at the hearing before the foreign affairs committee, his ministry said.

He noted that there were 128,000 workers from countries outside of the European Union in Hungary at present, while the number of unfilled positions stood at 71,000.

He added that investments were only eligible for state support if a majority of Hungarians were employed in their implementation or attempts had been made to hire locals for all available positions.

Szijjarto said guest workers accounted for just 2.6pc of the employed in Hungary, under the rates of 3.8pc in Slovakia, 6.4pc in Poland and 17pc in Czechia.

Addressing other questions, he said the government's economic strategy was not based "solely" on battery manufacturing investments, but added that the electromobility transition was necessary to meet environmental targets.

Hungary has the fourth-largest battery manufacturing capacity in the world at present and could move into second place after investments in the pipeline are completed, he said.

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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