Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview on public radio that improving European competitiveness is a central topic of Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Hungary will put forward a competitiveness pact at the European Council meeting in Budapest on Nov 8, which it has already discussed with France, Italy and Germany, Orbán said.
„Competitiveness is important, it’s about how we live: if we’re competitive we’re well off, if we’re not competitive then we’re badly off,” he said. The matter is closely connected to the war, he said. „Improving competitiveness is extremely difficult as long as enormous amounts of money flow into funding the war in Ukraine.” Orbán said the funding for Ukraine had well exceeded 100 billion forints (EUR 256m), „syphoning funding from European farmers, e-transition and road, bridge and railway development”. Therefore, standing up for peace is equivalent to standing up and working for Hungary, he said.
In a time of peace, Hungary would immediately find itself in another economic situation, and more possibilities could be opened up for people, he said. As long as the war is on, Hungary’s budget must remain a „war budget”. „Once we can broker peace, we can move on to a peace-time budget.” The main points of a 2025 budget designed for peace-time, which would double this year’s economic growth, „is already waiting in a desk drawer”, Orbán said. „That is how big of a difference peace or war makes.”