“The Hungarian economy is performing in an exemplary manner, including in European comparison, as also confirmed by last week’s credit rating increase”, the Ministry for Innovation and Technology’s Minister of State for Economic Strategy and Regulation László György declared at a meeting of the Competitiveness Council on 18 February in Brussels. The Minister of State held talks on the pollutant emissions of diesel cars and took part in the ministerial debates on the EU’s long-term climate strategy and artificial intelligence.

The head of the Hungarian delegation told the press that he doesn’t agree with the fact that following 2021Brussels wants to decide what Hungary should spend the resources that the country puts towards the construction of the country and the development of Hungarian small and medium-sized etherises in the 2014-202 period. “In the recent period, in the interests of the Hungarians the Hungarian Government has realised exactly the opposite of what the Brussels bureaucrats recommended. Amongst others is offered work instead of benefits, taxed multinational companies, and provided funding to families who are raising children instead of to immigrants. Based on the results of the past few years, this was a strategy that has paid off, and amongst others with is one of the reasons Standard and Poor’s increased Hungary’s credit rating, since the Hungarian economy is growing at a much higher rate than the EU average. Over the past six years the Hungarian economy has grown two and a half times as fast, and last year it grew three times as fast, in comparison to other member states of the European Union, there are 800 thousand more Hungarians working today than in 2010, and taxes on small businesses have been continuously falling, and are continuing to fall”, the Minister of State explained with relation to the EU’s competitiveness survey.

Mr. György also said that the Hungarian Government is striving to reinforce environmental awareness, and accordingly by 2030 Hungary will be generating 90 percent of its electricity in clean, carbon dioxide-free power plants. “Hungary is supporting Europe in retaining its leading role within the field of industry built on clean energy production, and also with relation to there being a detailed debate on how the EU’s carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by 80-100 percent by 2050. Amongst others, the production of energy-efficient and economic vehicles with low pollutant emissions by car manufacturers is also indispensable to achieving this goal. Irrational and rushed undertakings could, however, endanger Europe’s sustainability, the livelihoods of millions of European citizens and hundreds of thousands of jobs. The December 2018 European Court of Justice ruling on vehicle emissions could have particularly damaging consequences, that could even lead to 7.5 million new cars produced in Europe not being allowed to be put into operation on the continent in 2020”, Mr. György highlighted. “In Hungary’s opinion, the European Union should continue to support efforts to reduce pollutant emissions and the proliferation of alternative technologies, but one of the engines of the European economy, the automotive industry, must be afforded a suitable preparation period to conform to the new regulations”, he stated.

The ministers also debated the effects of artificial intelligence on industrial competitiveness. “With relation to the application of artificial intelligence (AI), we discussed with the members of the European Commission how we can place artificial intelligence into the service of our economies in such a way that it leads to the stability of workplaces”, the Minister of State said.

On the sidelines of the Council meeting, Hungary joined the European Blockchain Partnership. At the signing ceremony, László György highlighted that this technology could open up new business opportunities and could make public services more efficient for European citizens.

(Ministry for Innovation and Technology Communications Department))