Entrepreneurs who are able to provide jobs for themselves and also for others are the Government’s most important allies, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office said on Friday in Hódmezővásárhely.

János Lázár said in his lecture at the general meeting of the Csongrád County Chamber of Commerce and Industry which was combined with a business forum: the Government is currently looking for as yet unexplored potential for strengthening economic growth. Therefore, next Friday when the Prime Minister arrives in Hódmezővásárhely within the framework of the Modern Cities Programme, they will draw Mr Orbán’s attention to the Békéscsaba-Hódmezővásárhely-Szeged-Szabadka cooperation, he added.

The politician also acting as Member of Parliament for the constituency took the view: it is important to develop transport, and this is why they support the upgrading of main road 47 to four lanes. Cooperation could be extended in the northerly direction towards Debrecen, he said. He highlighted: it is also important to improve human resources as there is still free and available work force in the region, and with regard to this, the organisation of appropriate vocational training is a priority task.

The Minister said: the policy of Fidesz-KDNP has a number of permanent elements, such as that when they govern, the sovereign debt is low as a high sovereign debt means dependence. In 2002, the sovereign debt stood at 54-55 per cent to GDP, in 2010 it was 85 per cent, and next year it will decrease to 72 per cent as expected. The fiscal deficit, too, is low, and is expected to be around two per cent to GDP both this year and next year, he said.

He pointed out that the two parties have always targeted the promotion of growth. In this context, Mr Lázár said that between 1992 and 2002, there was a 4 to 5 per cent growth without EU funds. “This means that there is a 4-5 per cent growth potential in Hungarian businesses even without external support”, he said, with reference to the prospects of the EU fiscal period beyond 2020. Another permanent political element is that the Government believes in a workfare society, the Minister said. He believes that the greatest achievement of entrepreneurs is that there are this many jobs in the country, that the number of jobs on the market, rather than the number of jobs in the public works schemes, is on the increase, and that according to the budget proposed for next year, everyone who wants to will be able to work.

Mr Lázár remarked: in his view, there is a strong correlation between public security and employment. He demonstrated this with crime data: in 2010 there were almost 500 thousand crimes, while this number was just 270 thousand last year. Meanwhile, the number of people in employment has increased from 3.7 million to almost 4.5 million, he said.

He also highlighted that in order to have work force, it is necessary to support families, and this, too, is one of the main characteristics of Fidesz-KDNP governments. Ninety-three thousand children are born annually, but 126 thousand people die. “This will be the greatest challenge of the next ten to twenty years”, he stated.

László Parragh, President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry pointed out in his lecture that Hódmezővásárhely has “undergone a staggering course of development” in the past decade, but Arad and Temesvár have developed even more. In his words, this will be the big question: whether the region will be able to seize the opportunity which the openness of the border in the direction of Serbia represents.

According to the President, the economy is now balanced, “the realm of politics has understood that entrepreneurs are not their opponents, but their partners”. He added: he sincerely hopes it may be a realistic expectation that within three to four years, the tax authority will draft the tax returns of small and medium-sized businesses, similar to those of private individuals.

(MTI)