Hungary’s financial reserves have “never been as high as the government has amassed over the past three months”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to public radio on Friday. He said the reserves were at a “record high”, and “not only is it impossible to corner Hungary, but we will manage without them [the EU]”. “Of course, with them it would be simpler and we could progress faster, but they are misguided in Brussels if they think the sun will not rise without them.” “They are facing that fact now,” he added. On another subject, Orbán said the primary political task was to build an economic system in which “everybody can find employment”. “So far we have managed: one million more people have jobs now than in 2010,” he said. Despite being “a year of dangers”, 2022 saw the highest ever employment figures, he said. Those figures “will even get higher in 2023”, he said, adding that job protection was one of the highest priorities for the coming year. The prime minister said the real value of wages would grow in the 2022-2023 period. He called for “ambitious goals” for 2023, while he said the crisis should be managed while maintaining the country’s “great national objectives”. The government will further develop rather than whittle down family assistance as well as job protection mechanisms, he said. Orbán also mentioned as important priorities reducing inflation “to a single digit” by the end of the year and maintaining economic growth.