Hungary, too, would like family businesses which achieve results similar to those in Germany, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Nyírbátor where he announced the latest project worth some HUF 6 billion of the piece parts manufacturer Rosenberger Magyarország Kft.
The Prime Minister stressed that, after the fall of communism, the Hungarian market economy looked primarily upon Germany as a model which was able to create a new German industry even after a lost world war.
German family businesses provide jobs for 68 per cent of German people, and account for some 50 per cent of Germany’s total economic output. “We, too, would like to get there”, he indicated.
“We would like an economy like that of Germany; an economy where – as we hope – in the future family businesses will account for one half of the Hungarian economy’s total output. And we would also like some sixty to sixty-five per cent of Hungarian people to work in Hungarian-owned factories and plants”, the Prime Minister said.
He confirmed that Germany – and Bavaria where the factory owner Rosenberger family comes from – has always been an example for Hungary. The company is now launching new projects on two sites, in Jászárokszállás and Nyírbátor, investing twice as much money as it did last time. The latest project will be worth more than HUF 6 billion to which the government will contribute HUF 1.6 billion, the Prime Minister said, observing that as a result more than four hundred new jobs will come into being.
Referring to the development worth HUF 3.2 billion completed by Rosenberger last year, Mr Orbán said that the pace that Rosenberger dictates is enviable. “And in turn we are proud that we are able to keep up with that pace”, he said.
The Prime Minister pointed out that in recent years enormous projects had been brought to Hungary. In 2017 the value of investments increased by 17 per cent, thereby rising to its highest ever level and reaching HUF 6,440 billion, while the performance of the Hungarian economy increased by four per cent. According to the Prime Minister, once again projects on an enormous scale are being launched, and also in 2018 the performance of the economy will expand by minimum four per cent. In other words, “there is ample money to cover both the wages of workers and the pensions of pensioners”.
Mr Orbán said it is important that Hungary should be not only a production centre, but equally a research and development hub. He highlighted that Hungary does not wish to join the world economy’s production system at its lowest level, but as high up as possible. Hungary would like to produce as high a level of added value as possible; this, however, requires technology and workers.
Addressing the attending workers of Rosenberger, he confirmed that companies representing the highest world standards are coming to Hungary because throughout Hungary there is work force with knowledge and qualifications which befit the exacting standards of their plants. Hungarian workers render a performance that matches the highest world standards, and there is therefore a chance that not only assembly operations, but factories with highly demanding technologies to be operated by Hungarian work force should also come to Hungary. He remarked that there is “keen competition” for projects like these in the world, and the potential countries must compete for investments.
In this race, the qualifications, discipline and performance of workers will be the deciding factor, “the dotting of the i’s”. If Hungarian workers were unable to work to these exacting standards, these world-class projects would not be brought here, Mr Orbán added.
The Prime Minister said regarding the fall in the unemployment rate of the Nyírbátor region that the region had achieved major results as the former indicator that stood at twenty per cent fell to around 9 per cent, but he added that he is not entirely satisfied with the results achieved because in other parts of the country, in old industrial cities unemployment now stands at around two to three per cent.
Mr Orbán reminded his audience that the government had undertaken to create one million new jobs over a period of ten years. More than 750,000 of these have already come into being, he said. He added that the cabinet provides every assistance for families and women, and stressed that he will expect everyone – be those foreign politicians or investors coming to Hungary – to give all Hungarian people the respect they deserve.
At the end of his speech Mr Orbán asked the people to protect the results they have achieved to date together. Hungary is a safe country; the most important task is to maintain the country’s security, to protect our borders, and not to allow the development of situations such as those one may observe in quite a few countries west of us, the Prime Minister said.