Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Press Statement prior to his Speech at the Meeting of the European People’s Party in Portugal (16 June 2014, Albufeira).
What are the cornerstones of your upcoming speech?
What we are talking about today are the changes that need to be made within the European Union in light of the European elections, because the voters of Europe have made it clear that they do not want what has been happening over the past five years to continue, meaning they want change. I think we will need dynamism, youth, energy and courage. In concrete terms what this means is that we must look beyond the solutions that were previously thought to be the only ones that could lead to success. My speech primarily focuses on the competitiveness of the European economy. I will be talking about the fact that we must change our energy policy. The most important question with regard to energy policy is the issue of price. Europe cannot be competitive and cannot create jobs if others can acquire energy at cheaper rates than Europe’s large production companies. And the United States is doing much better than we are in this respect, and so I will be recommending a radical reduction of European energy prices, which coincides with the logic of Hungary’s reduction of utility prices. And secondly, I will be recommending that the state plays a role in job-creating development projects. Western European countries shouldn’t wait for the private sector to pull itself out of trouble, but instead the state should also create jobs for the unemployed, as has been the case within the Hungarian public work programme. I will also be putting forward arguments in favour of boldly interfering with the regulation of the banking sector and, as we have done and will continue to do in future in Hungary with reference to foreign currency debtors, Europe will require greater courage with regard to banking regulations than it has shown during the past five years. I will also be touching on foreign policy issues. What I will recommend is that Europe should take the initiative with regard to the crisis in Ukraine. We should convene a Russia-EU conference to discuss not only the situation in Ukraine, but also to determine the most important points with regard to the next twenty to twenty-five years of our cohabitation with the Russians, and sign an agreement on these. This would create security for Ukraine, security for Hungary and security for the energy supply of the whole European Union.
How great a role do national economies play in boosting the European economy?
The economy of the European Union is made up of national economies. If things are going badly for national economies, then they are also going badly for the European Union. And vice-versa: if things are going well for the European Union then that is only possible because national economies are performing well. What I will be arguing in favour of today is that national economies must be given greater latitude, because a successful Hungary, a successful Poland or a successful Germany can do more for the EU than if we all follow the otherwise unsuccessful economic policy direction that many countries within the European Union are currently suffering as a result of. So latitude, imagination, a national approach and independence.
(Prime Minister’s Office)
