A successful Hungary needs strong and successful family businesses, said Viktor Orbán in Lajosmizse on Thursday.
The Prime Minister said that family businesses are driven by an inner power which large enterprises led by professional managers sometimes lack nowadays. He was speaking at the official opening of the Mizsetáp Kft. egg production plant, a HUF 1.5 billion greenfield investment which is one of the most modern factories in Central Europe.
This is at once a family, agricultural and Hungarian business, he said; each of these features on its own would have been reason enough for the Government to be in attendance to show its recognition. The three together, however, made government representation almost mandatory, Mr. Orbán said.
The Prime Minister referred to the speech by Mizsetáp Kft. CEO Csaba Kollár, in which he mentioned that because of another company his family business had earlier been on the verge of bankruptcy, but they were able to recover.
According to Mr. Orbán, the family business showed its strength at the time when a “company which shall remain nameless” had brought it to the brink of insolvency.
The Prime Minister said he believes that in such cases, multinational companies tend to relocate their factories and lay off their employees, after which they do not even set foot in the country again. Despite its losses, Mizsetáp Kft. was not willing to do the same, but paid it debts to every single one of its suppliers and subcontractors, the Prime Minister said, adding that this story illustrates the last ten years in Hungary’s history – not just in its plot, but also in its cast.
He recalled that after 2010 the country also needed to be brought back from the brink of bankruptcy, debt had to be controlled and jobs had to be protected. “With joint efforts, we succeeded in putting the country back on track, where it is not tricks that are honoured but real work”, he declared.
Mr. Orbán said he regards family businesses as undertakings that “represent in microcosm our vision for the country’s future”, with the economy characterised by small and medium-sized enterprises – mostly family businesses. In his view, Hungarian agriculture can only be successful if most Hungarian land is in the hands of family businesses.
He said that in the past the country only moved forward when agriculture was successful, and this also holds true today.
Referring to a possible reduction in VAT on poultry and poultry products, he said that “Your request is appreciated and reasonable, but every such reduction is just another step in the dark”. He added that there will be a “trial period” to see is if the reduction in VAT on pork is successful, after which the Government will seriously consider the situation of poultry products.
Mizse Kft. CEO Csaba Kollár said that the greenfield investment that is his company’s egg production plant accounts for 2% of all egg production in the country. The company was established in 1995 and provides jobs for 59 people, but the number of employees will rise to 65 with increased production after three months. The company’s equity exceeds HUF 1 billion, and its total assets in 2014 were HUF 2.8 billion.
(Prime Minister's Office/MTI)
