“In this current period of challenges, only innovative answers are good answers and only innovative nations can be successful”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in Budapest on Tuesday.
On the occasion of the decision made on resuming rail passenger traffic between the two countries, Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs pointed out that the two nations have always regarded each other as good neighbours and important partners. There are a number of joint infrastructure, energy and economy related developments on the agenda at the moment that still have to be implemented.
Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said it was a historic achievement that the central government budget posted a surplus for the initial two months of the year, as it has been unprecedented since 1998, when the current calculation method was introduced. The surplus of HUF 14.8bn is an evident sign of predictable and responsible fiscal management, he added.
The rate of inflation grew year-on-year by 0.3 percent in February 2016, which – thanks to lower fuel prices – was well below the 0.9 percent figure registered last month. The Hungarian economy has been characterized by subdued inflation; thus incomes can preserve their value and stable prices make it easier for enterprises to draw up future plans.
In Q4 2015, Hungary’s GDP grew by 3.2 percent year-on-year, while in 2015 the economy expanded by 2.9 percent. The government debt-to-GDP ratio, 75.3 percent, was also below prior estimates, down by 1 percentage point compared to the level of 2014.
The Government Spokesperson believes that coming to an agreement with Turkey is in the best interests of every party to the negotiations, including Hungary, but the terms of the agreement are not indifferent.
On Monday evening, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács told public television channel M1 that as a result of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s veto, the negotiation on the direct resettlement of migrants from Turkish refugee camps according to the original proposal’s form and content was brought to an end; a completely new approach must be employed.
The times are over when one can travel on the Western Balkan routes without controls. EU leaders have decided that the routes of people smugglers must be closed, which means that order must also be restored at the borders, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told journalists in Brussels after the summit of the leaders of the European Union and Turkey in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“Hungarian automotive industry exports have never been so large; the level of exports reached 19.6 billion euros in 2015, an increase of some 14 percent or 2.4 billion euros compared to the previous year”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Monday.
“Europe is currently characterised by hypocrisy: when a country totally ignores the common Schengen Regulations and Europe’s security and allows thousands of migrants to enter the continent every day or transports them on to other countries, Europe calls it solidarity”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday in Budapest at a business conference.