Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that Hungary is on the road to becoming one of Europe’s most competitive countries.
During his speech at the inauguration of ThyssenKrupp Components Technology’s plant in Jászfényszaru, the prime minister revealed that in just over a year 517.6 billion HUF (1.65bn EUR) in investments have been realized in Hungary by domestic and foreign investors, creating 5,811 new jobs.
PM Orbán said that ThyssenKrupp’s new factory complex - constructed as a greenfield project at a cost of 33.5 billion HUF, including 10.5 billion HUF from the Hungarian government – will create 500 new jobs by 2019.
The prime minister also drew attention to the fact that Hungary must retain the status of one of Europe’s most competitive countries. He mentioned that Germany has had a permanent place in this “club” for many years, stressing that Hungary will also require Germany’s precision, discipline and work ethic.
He said ThyssenKrupp’s new factory had also strengthened Hungary’s competitiveness, as sixty locations in twelve countries entered the competition for the project. Among these locations the winner was Jászfényszaru, which has a population of some five and a half thousand.
The prime minister said that to achieve a competitive economy it is not enough to come up with competitive ideas, but those ideas must also be organized into a system.
The prime minister highlighted that ThyssenKrupp is one of Germany’s most innovative companies, combining two hundred years of experience and tradition into a well-functioning business model. He said Hungary is also attempting to achieve something similar with the national economy, the Hungarian model, which until now has performed well.
PM Orbán cited the three pillars of the Hungarian model. One is full employment, and he noted that 700,000 new jobs have been created in the last eight years.
The second pillar is that in Hungary neither labor market problems nor demographic problems can be solved “from outside.” Hungary does not want to solve its demographic problems through immigration and migrants, he said.
The third pillar is Hungary’s competitive environment, its flexible labor market regulations, attractive taxation system, and a vocational training system that is being reorganized to meet labor market demands, he added.