Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó has said that job-creating investments will restore Europe's competitiveness, while EU Commissioner and Vice-President of the European Commission Jyrki Katainen stressed that lack of investment is the underlying problem of European economies; therefore, the European Fund for Strategic Investments has been created, through which new investment worth EUR 315 billion will be funded.

Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade held a joint press conference on Friday in Budapest with Finnish EU Commissioner Jyrki Katainen, who arrived in Budapest to promote the new Investment Plan of the European Commission. Péter Szijjártó explained that Europe's competitiveness has declined recently, largely due to the fact that the volume of investment is below the expected level.

In this way  Hungary welcomes the fact that investment of EUR 315 billion will be funded by the European Fund for Strategic Investments in the Member States. The Minister confirmed that Hungary will enter the competition for the new resources with three types of investment. The first type includes energy and investments improving energy security, especially one large-scale strategic investment: construction of a pipeline delivering gas from Turkey to Hungary.

The second type of investment is transport development, and the third is innovation and research, including development projects focusing on the shift to digital technology. Mr. Katainen said that the fund is different from the European Investment Bank in that it may fund riskier investments; it will primarily fund the investments of small and medium-sized enterprises and focus on private investments.

Mr. Katainen said that in parallel with implementing the new Investment Plan, the European Commission wishes to transform the internal market of the European Union into a single market, including three main areas: “digital harmonisation”; the standardisation of the energy sector (Energy Union); and a single market for capital.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)