“If the Schengen system fractures as a result of migration pressure, confidence in the region will decrease and the foreign trade performance of Hungarian enterprises could be endangered as a result”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday in Budapest at the 4th Export Conference organised by Hungarian economic daily Világgazdaság.
“The temporary closure of the borders could cause significant planning problems, for instance for enterprises that operate without warehouse capacities within the ‘just in time’ system, because shipping times could increase considerably”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “If the Schengen system fractures and more and more countries reinstate border controls, heavy goods vehicles will be standing in queues several kilometres long at the border, as a result of which large international corporations operating in Hungary will be faced with scheduling difficulties which could have a dramatic effect on the Hungarian supply industry and on Hungarian exports in general”, the Minister added.
He cited as an example the fact that the products manufactured by a certain Hungarian automotive supply company usually reach Serbia within 4 hours from their Hungarian point of acquisition, but as a result of the temporary border closure at Röszke, this same trip took 20 hours.
With relation to the EU Summit that began on Wednesday, Mr. Szijjártó expressed his disappointment that no progress was achieved on protecting the EU’s external borders. The Hungarian Foreign Minister said he felt the European Commission could have put forward a proposal with regard to what support is required by various member states to enable the establishment of a joint force to protect Greece’s external border. “While the EU is incapable of establishing such a force, economic decision-makers will continue to face severe challenges”, he stressed.
Mr. Szijjártó also highlighted the fact that according to previous experience the Mediterranean migration route cannot be used during the winter period, and so migration pressure is transferred to dry land, as a result of which the number of immigrants arriving via the Western Balkan route is expected to increase yet further.
“While Europe is trying to handle the problem of migration, it has little time left over to handle economic and trade challenges, which could lead to regional integration slipping further behind in the global competition”, he said. “Cooperation between Europe and Russia has become impossible within the current global political environment, meaning one of the important pillars of Hungary’s economic policy of opening towards the East has begun to falter; Russian import demand has fallen and the shrinking of the economy has also begun to affect the economies of CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries, despite the fact that in theory these countries could have exported more as a result of the sanctions introduced against Russia”, the Minister explained.
“In addition, significant efforts must be made to maintain export levels to China and the Arab world, where the false picture spread by the international press according to which Hungary is anti-Islam because we feel that every European nation has the right to decide whether it wants to share its life with a large community from a different background, must be set right”, he stated.
Mr. Szijjártó also told reporters that the goal of Hungary’s government remains for the country to have the highest export to GDP ratio in the EU within the foreseeable future, adding that in 2008 this ratio was 80 percent, growing to 91 percent in 2014 and 97 percent in the first half of 2015, meaning Hungary is currently in third place.
“In the interests of maintaining the rate of growth of exports, amongst others the Hungary National Trading House is opening 22 new offices within the Carpathian Basin and is expanding its activities in Japan, South Korea, Argentina and Chicago, in addition to which Eximbank is facilitating the introduction of an export stimulation loan programme, which will provide 21 billion euros to finance export-capable Hungarian enterprises and sectors trading in 94 countries”, Mr. Szijjártó said.