“They are attacking Hungary with absurd allegations”, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary, Levente Magyar stressed in an interview published on Tuesday in conservative German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Following a conversation with the State Secretary, the paper’s journalist, Christian Geinitz highlighted in the article: Hungary feels it is being unfairly excluded politically in Europe.

“The accusations concerning the rule of law and a lack of democracy are absurd, and the heightened interest on the part of foreign investors shows that Hungary is in fact an upright, open and dependable country”, Mr. Magyar told the paper.

“For business people, political stability, calculability and competitiveness are important, and it has been a long time since these conditions have been as good in Hungary as they are today, which industry in Germany, Hungary’s most important economic partner, highly appreciates”, he underlined.

As he explained, since the beginning of Viktor Orbán’s prime ministership in 2010, Audi has been continuously expanding its engine factory in Győr, Mercedes has opened a plant in Kecskemét and is currently working on doubling its capacity, while BMW is constructing a facility in Debrecen with an investment of one billion euros, which is “the decision of the decade” and is of key importance to the development of the eastern part of the country.

He added that Hungary is also attractive outside Europe, as indicated by the fact that despite the differences of opinion between the two governments, partners from the United States have greatly increased their activities. “Luckily, in the economy people pay much less attention to political hubbub than most people think”, Mr. Magyar told the paper.

The State Secretary highlighted the fact that instead of monitoring compliance with EU treaties the European Commission is pushing into more and more fields and undermining the national sovereignty of member states, which is worrying. And the European Parliament launched an “unfounded” rule of law agreement against Hungary that was “partly based on trumped-up charges”, he added, noting that MEPs would have voted to adopt the report that formed the basis for the procedure even if it had contained “nursery rhymes”.

Mr. Magyar pointed out that the Government has a strong legitimacy in view of the fact that Fidesz has won the general elections three times in a row with a two-thirds majority. “The questioning of this legitimacy shows a lack of respect for the Hungarian people”, he said.

“Another unfounded allegation is that freedom of opinion is being restricted in Hungary”, Mr. Magyar added, highlighting: in view of the fact that RTL Klub has the highest audience and index.hu the highest readership, it would be difficult to argue that press freedom is being restricted.

With relation to the Central European University (CEU), he declared that the institution “isn’t being forced out of the country”, it is continuing to operate in Budapest and to issue Hungarian diplomas, and the laws that regulate its operations are no stricter that in other European countries.

About the founder of the CEU, George Soros, the State Secretary said he wants to acquire political influence, which is “unacceptable, as he has no democratic mandate for doing so”. As he explained, George Soros is financing dubious refugee organisations, some of which are attempting to help migrants enter or traverse Hungary illegally. “We must prevent these activities of Mr. Soros”, he stated.

Amongst others, he also spoke about the fact that Hungary is prepared to accept the fact that Great Britain’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) means a reduction in EU funding, but that funding cannot be disproportionate and cannot be used as an instrument for “punishing” Hungary. Accordingly, it would be unacceptable for the level of funding to be determined according to abstract standards concerning democracy, or based on the level of unemployment, which thanks to prudent reforms is much lower in the Central European region that in the southern states of the European Union.

Mr. Magyar highlighted the fact that Hungary has strong economic links to Germany, and accordingly the Government is concerned to see the processes that are developing in the German automotive industry with relation to pollutant emissions. “It would seem that instead of rational economic and scientific considerations the debate is instead being determined by political and ideological considerations”, he noted.

(MTI)