Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the “myth” that EU member states cannot prosper without community funding “has been dispelled”.
Economic growth would “visibly return” in 2024 without “a single cent of EU funding”, PM Orbán told an event organized by employer federation VOSZ. “The economy can be managed so that growth is solely supported by the country’s own revenues and market funding …” he said. This did not mean, he added, that the government would “not collect those few billions that Europe owes us”. PM Orbán warned that in future “the traps of loans, energy prices and consumption must be avoided”. As for energy prices, he said families had been “saved from that trap” but businesses were still weighed down. At its latest session, the government decided to cut prices by 10 euros, the prime minister said, adding that the measures would soon be published. The government will continue working to implement further energy price cuts for businesses next year, PM Orbán said, adding that when it came to arguments over higher interest rates versus lower interest rates to stimulate investments, his government had always been “on the side of entrepreneurs and the economy”.