“The most wide-reaching and comprehensive free trade agreement possible must be achieved between Great Britain and the European Union to ensure that economic, trade and investor relations can continue as smoothly as possible”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday in Budapest.
Mr. Szijjártó took part in a meeting of Visegrád Group (V4: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) foreign ministers, who held negotiations with Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond at the Castle Bazar in Budapest.
At the press conference following the meeting, the Hungarian Foreign Minister highlighted: “Protecting the rights of EU citizens studying and working in Great Britain is also an important interest”.
“The possible outcomes of Brexit and their effects represent significant trade and growth challenges and risks for the countries of Central Europe, the V4, which must be handled, and this is why it is right that the members of the Visegrád Group should jointly prepare to handle any negative repercussions“, he stressed.
“It is in Hungary’s interests for the Brexit negotiations and their outcome to be characterised by dependability for the members of economic and business life”, the Minister said. “Hopefully, there will also be a temporary trade agreement that ensures unhindered operations and transparency for the private sector”, he added.
Mr. Szijjártó also said that if Great Britain and the European Union are unable to conclude a comprehensive free trade agreement, then World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations will come into force, meaning customs duties, which “hopefully nobody wants”. The Minister said it was also important to maintain the closest possible security policy cooperation between the EU and Great Britain.
“Today’s meeting was not a Brexit negotiation; that will be conducted in Brussels by the chief negotiators”, he declared. “Today, we jointly analysed the possible economic effects of the new European and global economic constellation that will come about following Brexit on the Central European region, the countries of which maintain extremely close cooperation with Great Britain, in addition to which we also investigated possible economic scenarios”, he explained.
Mr. Szijjártó pointed out that when Great Britain leaves the European Union, the EU will lose one seventh of its economic performance, leading to a totally new economic situation. “One of the world’s global financial centres will be outside the EU, and the size of the European Union’s internal market will also be significantly reduced, which will change the EU’s financial and economic weight in the world”, he noted, adding that Great Britain is not just one of the world’s largest economies, but also one of the European Union’s largest net contributors.
“Great Britain is Hungary’s 11th most important trade partner, with a foreign trade surplus of 2 billion euros in bilateral trade flow, and the country is the sixth most important investor in Hungary, with 800 British companies employing over 50 thousand people here”, the Minister pointed out.
Mr. Szijjártó also said that it was not worth looking for models; with relation to future cooperation between Great Britain and the EU, the cooperation that the European Union maintains with other countries cannot serve as an example in the current situation.
In reply to a question, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said: “It would be in Europe’s interests to accelerate the conclusion of free trade agreements, and we must avoid a situation in which such an agreement does not come about with Great Britain, because then the country will sign agreements with other major economic powers, which would contribute even further to reducing the EU’s competitiveness”.
In reply to a question on the possible introduction of the Euro in Hungary, Mr. Szijjártó said: The country must only join the eurozone if both Hungary and the eurozone are both 100 percent prepared, noting that Hungary’s constitution stipulates that the country’s currency is the Forint.