“It is also important to Hungary that the series of negotiations on the termination of Great Britain’s membership of the European Union comes to a close with a package of agreements that are not a punishment, but are practical and acceptable to all parties, to which end Great Britain can count on the support of the Hungarian Government”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary Laszlo Szabó said on Thursday in London.

During the course of the day, Mr. Szabó held talks with representatives of the British Foreign Office, the Department for International Trade, the Confederation of British Industry and the Institute of Directors. Speaking to the Hungarian press on Thursday evening following his meetings, the parliamentary State Secretary said: “Europe should not try to punish Great Britain, but should instead create an environment in which Member States wish to remain, and in which they see the values of the European Union”. “Brussels should learn from its mistake, from the fact that it was not prepared to listen to the voice of the European people”, he added.

According to Mr. Szabó, Hungary would like the Brexit negotiation process to be fair and transparent.

In reply to a question on what opportunities the Hungarian Government sees for assuring the future rights of Hungarians living in Great Britain, Mr. Szabó declared that during his negotiations in London representatives of both the private sector and politics all said they couldn’t imagine how the country could keep operating without workers from Central and Eastern Europe. “The UK has a very low rate of unemployment and it is obvious that if workers from the eastern Member States of the EU were to suddenly disappear, Great Britain could find itself in difficulties. This is something the British party is also aware of”, the State Secretary highlighted.

“The British Government would obviously also like to see the rights of British citizens living in EU partner states continue to be upheld, meaning a mutually favourable, pragmatic solution could be found based on this, which does not pose administrative restrictions on the assertion of these rights”, he added.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has often voiced her standpoint that London would like to come to an agreement with EU partner states as early as possible, at a very early stage of the Brexit negotiations, and on a reciprocal basis, meaning on the condition that the Member States that are remaining members of the European Union also guarantee the continued upholding of the rights of British citizens working there.

On the subject of Hungarian-British economic relations, Mr. Szabó said at his press conference on Thursday: “Relations are expanding dynamically, there are currently 800 British companies in Hungary providing jobs for 50 thousand people, and bilateral trade flow increased by 15 percent in 2015”.

In reply to a question on whether the Hungarian Government would be offering companies that were considering leaving the City of London’s financial service centre following Brexit the opportunity to transfer their operations to Hungary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary told reporters: “Hungary is not actively encouraging companies to leave Great Britain, but Hungary can provide an excellent and ideal operational location for enterprises who do decide to resettle”.

(MTI)