Orban told Kossuth Radio that the package of 20-25 measures could lift Hungary's economic growth rate over the rates of all of the rest of the countries in Europe.

Orban said French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank governor, had drawn "harsher conclusions" about the state of Europe.

Macron, he added, had warned that Europe's economy "could die" if urgent measures were not taken to improve the bloc's competitiveness. The topic of Europe's economic difficulties is not unique to the Hungarian perspective but an opinion shared by European leaders, he added.

"Now the Hungarians aren't the only ones in the crowd that see the emperor has no clothes," Orban said.

He acknowledged the French president's "key role" in establishing a new, more competitive European economy.

He noted that Hungary would host a summit of the European Political Community on November 7 to discuss Europe's economic competitiveness. He added that EU leaders would hold a summit one day later, dedicated to the subject of the community's competitiveness.

He noted that the summit would take place just two days after the US presidential election "which could easily create a completely new situation in world politics".
 

On another subject, Orban argued for economic neutrality and said that Hungary had to go its own path.

Around the fall of communism, when it became clear that the Soviet economic model was not competitive, Hungary switched to capitalism and took over elements and institutions of the market economy that had made Western countries successful, Orban said.

Orban said now it was the western world that was in trouble, and Hungary could not take over Eastern economic methods "because they are impossible to imitate for cultural reasons".

He warned, however, that "if Hungary continues along with the West … in the end we will fall into the abyss and die together with the Western economy." So Hungary's only solution, he said, was to shape an economic model to fit its own culture, from the examples seen worldwide. 

"We must take over everything that's good for us from the West as well as from the East, but nothing that's not good for us. To keep it simple, we call that approach and policy economic neutrality," Orban said.

Orban insisted that "a cold-war philosophy which has taken over the West" since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine had "presented itself in the economy, too." "Reviving the Cold War is a bad idea," he said.

Hungary has the right to pursue an economic policy of its own, Orban said, adding that "it is just a matter of ability, courage and skill to enforce that right." If Hungary managed to stay out of the Russia-Ukraine war, it would "stay away from an ill-advised economic policy built on war logic," he said.

He added that the Hungarian government "needs to do well at talks in the closed back rooms of politics … but Hungarians have never performed poorly there, and there is no need for us to feel inferior."

"We usually do well in difficult power talks, and we have stayed away from the war and received written guarantees that we won't have to participate in the war during the term of the new NATO secretary-generay," Orban said.

The Hungarian government has negotiated the continued possibility of purchasing gas and oil from Russia, while "the whole of the European Union distances itself from Russian energy", he added.

"We have always found room for manoeuvre … there is no point in holding the low-spirited belief that the great countries would suppress us anyway," the prime minister said.

Orban: Hungary has right for its own economic policy

Hungary has the right to pursue an economic policy of its own, the prime minister said in a interview with public radio on Friday morning, adding that "it is just a matter of ability, courage and skill to enforce that right."

If Hungary manages to stay out of the Russia-Ukraine war, it will "stay away from an ill-advised economic policy built on war logic," Viktor Orban said. He added that the Hungarian government "needs to do well at talks in the closed back rooms of politics ... but Hungarians have never performed poorly there, and there is no need for us to feel inferior."

"One would have thought that there is no room to manoeuvre in the Russia-Ukraine war, because if the whole European Union sings the same tune, one country could not stay out; still we did," he said, adding that "they are up to their eyes in a losing war, and Hungary isn't, because we never joined".

"If God helps us, those standing for peace replace those rooting for war in America and President [Donald] Trump returns, we will be relieved because we are no longer alone," Orban said.

Meanwhile, Govt cancels meeting with trade unions

The government is cancelling a meeting with the platform of public service trade unions (KEF) set for Friday, the prime minister's office said.

"If [public service] trade unions were really ready to negotiate with the government and local authorities, they would have not turned to the media before the talks," the statement said. The trade unions represented by KEF clearly "have no intention" to conduct meaningful negotiations, it said.

Hungary jobless rate 4.5pc in September

Hungary's jobless rate for people between the ages of 15 and 74 stood at 4.5pc in September, data released by the Central Statistics Office (KSH) on Friday show.

In absolute terms, there were 220,000 unemployed.

The number of employed averaged 4,699,000 in September, down 32,000 from twelve months earlier. KSH noted that the drop was from a high base.

For the period January-September, average employment numbers were little changed at 4,709,000. The number of people on the primary employment market edged up to 4,545,000.

The number of Hungarians working abroad was little changed at 108,000. The number of people in fostered work programmes dropped by 10,000 to 56,000.

The employment rate for the 15-64 age group edged up 0.2pp to 75.3pc.

Data from the National Employment Service (NFSZ) show there were 228,000 registered jobseekers at the end of September, up 0.2pc from twelve months earlier.

Jobseekers spent 11.9 months, on average, looking for work, but 45pc of the jobless found new positions in under three months. The percentage of jobless who had been looking for work for at least one year reached 34pc.

Photo: PM's Press Office Zoltán Fischer

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

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