Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga held bilateral talks with his German counterpart, Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel as well as Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble in Berlin.
The bolstering of economic relations and the improving of Europe’s competitiveness was high on the meeting’s agenda.
The Minister participated at a conference organized by the Eastern Europe Business Association of Germany (Osteuropaverein der Deutschen Wirtschaft), after which Ministers Varga and Gabriel held bilateral talks, where they agreed that tighter cooperation between Germany and the Visegrad Four – including Hungary -- may help improve Europe’s competitiveness.
Germany considers the region to be its strategic partner, within which Hungary enjoys a special status. The presence of German enterprises in Hungary and that of Hungarian companies in Germany also underpin the necessity for the Hungarian and German Governments to jointly work on a digital platform, that is, to promote the economic utilization of digital technologies. To this end, the two ministries are to appoint direct contacts. The two parties also shared the same opinion concerning Russia’s economic role and they also agreed that compliance with the Minsk agreement by both Ukraine and Russia is a basic requirement that may lead to the reconsideration of sanctions. However, Russia is essential for addressing certain global challenges, such as the Syrian crisis. Despite the disagreement with regard to the migration issue, the two economy ministers were both of the opinion that the problem must be solved on a European level, but controlling the inflow of migrants is a precondition.
Mihály Varga has also met with Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble to overview current economic issues such as the framework of the European Monetary Union and the economic and fiscal impacts of migration. Concerning the latter, the ministers stated that -- following the elections -- they see a good chance for the stabilization of the political situation in Turkey, which would enable the strengthening of the Greek-Turkish border.
As Mihály Varga pointed out, his personal impression was that the German partners are more and more inclined to favour the re-enforcement of the EU’s outside borders.
(Ministry for National Economy)
