“There can be no strong national economy without strong national enterprises”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Friday in Debrecen at V-Híd Construction Zrt.’s 5th anniversary celebration, which included a machinery demonstration.

Mr. Szijjártó said that amid the current, extremely difficult conditions, the strongest national economy of all time must be constructed. Citing the experience of the past thirty years, the Minister declared: “An economy cannot be organised on a class or class war basis (…), a national economy can only be organised on a national basis”. “Accordingly, while we are in government, the left-wing liberal group will also be receiving all possible assistance, Tamás Leisztinger’s enterprises will also be receiving all possible assistance, and we will also be helping Lajos Kósa’s enterprises, but we are also not prepared to negatively discriminate against business people, or their enterprises, that are known to belong to the national, conservative-minded camp”, he added.

According to Mr. Szijjártó, since the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic it has become clear that it is countries that possess their own, nationally-based capabilities and capacities that can achieve success and become the winners of the new global order, including the capacity to independently perform transport development projects. “One of the foundations of the economic success story of the past ten years is that, while exploiting the fact that we are at the heart of Europe, we have created one of Central Europe’s most highly advanced transport networks”, he explained. According to the Minister, in order to maintain the country’s investment attraction capability, “non-stop railway development projects are required”. “The government will be spending five thousand billion forints (EUR 13.84 billion) on road and railway development projects until 2024, including 300 billion forints (EUR 830 million) this year”, Mr Szijjártó indicated.

Lőrinc Mészáros, owner of V-Híd Zrt., which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, said Hungary should be proud of the Hungarian construction industry, which over the past thirty years has overcome a 100-year deficit and caught up to its foreign rivals. “The ‘writhing’ of the construction industry began after the 1989 regime change; those who privatized the sector at the time were not successful, but when large foreign companies took over these enterprises they functioned well, and they won all the major construction tenders during the time of the left-wing liberal governments”, he explained. “The Medgyessy and Gyurcsány government ground down the Hungarian construction industry”, Mr. Mészáros said. “After 2010, development also began in the construction industry, and many successful Hungarian enterprises grew up. Today, 60-70 percent of the market is driven by Hungarian-owned enterprises; this figure used to be 5-10 percent”, he added. The businessman said it is a misconception that Hungarian enterprise are simply “given the job”; they must win them in competition in all cases, he declared.

In his speech, the region’s Member of Parliament Lajos Kósa (Fidesz) said the construction industry is a difficult field from the perspective of regulation, and reacts sensitively to changes in the economy. According to the politician, the European Union regulations drawn up by the “EU bureaucrats” primarily favour large European enterprises, and not us. With relation to public procurement tenders, he said: “The public procurement system in Hungary is not satisfactory”, and provides an opportunity for the competition to prevent a successful procedure with “repeated inquiries”. He drew attention to the importance of vocational training within the construction industry, also warning that the European market is drawing away the country’s best professionals.

Minister for Innovation and Technology László Palkovics spoke, amongst others, about the fact that the future of railways has been placed in a different dimension in Europe and Hungary. “Five-year-old V-Híd Zrt. is one of the new Hungarian private sector success stories, and in the first year following its founding the company not only dealt with executing construction projects, but also applied strategic planning to consider how it would be operating in future. As a result, it became part of several successful railway development projects”, the Minister said, citing the stretches of railway connecting Kelenföld and Százhalombatta, and Püspökladány and Debrecen. “V-Híd Zrt., which employs three hundred people, has become one of the market’s determining enterprises, and possesses a fleet of equipment that is unique in Hungary”, the Minister added.

Mr. Palkovics said that some 51 billion euros in resources will be available to Hungary within the 2021-2027 European Union programming period, more than ever before, and half of this funding will be spent on construction projects, including railway development projects. At V-Híd Zrt.’s birthday celebration, a working track construction production line was showcased, of which only three exist in Europe, and one of them has now fallen under 100 percent Hungarian ownership for the first time. Last year, the company achieved some 33.8 billion forints (EUR 93.5 million) in turnover and has invested some six billion forints (EUR 16.6 million) in development over the past five years. The press materials distributed at the event reveal, amongst others, that one of the company’s current major projects is the modernisation of the Debrecen-Füzesabony railway line, which is one of the tasks relating to the future BMW automotive industry plant in Debrecen.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)