In Hungary, the war is losing, while businesses are winning, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated on Friday in Budapest.
At the event ‘Day of Hungarian Businesses’ of the Confederation of Hungarian Business (VOSZ), Mr Orbán said in Hungary the war is winning most of all because “we have stayed out of this war, we have stayed out much better and much more than our Western European friends who are now in trouble and will be in even bigger trouble.”
The Prime Minister pointed out that while businesses were driving and pulling the economy, the war was blocking it.
According to a rule of thumb, from the Treasury’s point of view, a one per cent GDP growth represents a revenue of HUF 400 billion. If there was no war, growth would be three per cent instead of the present one per cent which would mean an additional HUF 800 billion for the budget, and quite of few hundred billion forints of this sum could be used for the development of the economy, he laid down.
The Prime Minister said war is an expensive thing. It is for a reason that those who know the most about the economy, whose thinking is most determined by business, the Americans, have already quit the war, he added.
“However, our Western European friends keep going in, they will have to foot the bill of the war on their own, and the price will be high,” Mr Orbán said, observing that they are in bad shape as regards international competitiveness as it is, let alone in the present situation.
In the Prime Minister’s words, the fact that the Hungarian economy has not slowed down as much as the German economic zone which is the most important territory for the country is owing exclusively to the hard work of Hungarian businesses.
On behalf of the government, the Prime Minister thanked all businesses which, even amidst the present extremely difficult wartimes, have not given up, have not stopped, have not cut back, have not suspended operations, but have continued, have carried on, have innovated, have searched for opportunities, have invested energy and have, as a result, given an opportunity for the Hungarian economy to reach an at least one per cent growth.
At the same time, Mr Orbán described the eleven-point tax reduction programme worth HUF 90 to 100 billion targeting small and medium-sized enterprises as a victory of businesses as it has enabled the economy to generate that amount under the guidance of businesses.
“It’s also your victory that yesterday we managed to agree on the rate of next year’s minimum wage increase, while it’s likewise your victory that even amidst such wartimes we have managed to reinforce the family support system in Hungary: mothers pay no personal income tax, while we have doubled the tax benefit available in relation to children,” he stated.
He took the view that it was also a victory for businesses that “we can afford, even amidst such wartime circumstances, to offer a fixed three per cent housing credit facility for first-time home buyers, and to provide a three per cent credit facility for businesses as well.”
The Prime Minister highlighted that “the year you will have next year” depended on two factors: the issue of war and peace and the economic policy Hungary will pursue, Mr Orbán said.
At the event, the Prime Minister said “your success and opportunities greatly depend on whether there will be a right-wing or left-wing economic policy in Hungary.”
Experiences show that the essence of left-wing economic policy is that politicians always know better where all the money should go, and therefore, they take as much as they can away from those who have money, and “based on their greater knowledge, or presumed greater knowledge, which they mysteriously call ‘fairness and justice,’ they try to distribute the money taken away from you,” he added.
He pointed out that this left-wing economic policy had always resulted in bureaucracy, over-regulation, the abuse of benefits and corruption, which in turn “always led to tax increases, time and time again.”
He drew attention to the fact that, by contrast, the central notion of right-wing economic policy is that you cannot find advancement without hard work and performance, and families and businesses – which have earned the money – know best where the money should go. “Therefore, we should leave it with them, we should only take away from them as much” as is necessary for financing our common needs from the budget, from the army through security all the way to public lighting and education, and “such an economic policy usually results in tax reductions.”
“If someone wants to make you believe that there is also a third in addition to these two economic policies, don’t believe them, in the whole of Europe, you can only choose between these two,” he underlined.
He took the view that when businesses turned left, so far they had always only lost on it everywhere.
There is a right-hand rule for businesses, “I suggest that you take this into consideration and observe it,” “and additionally, this time it will be even more so because things have become this extremely simple not only in Hungary, but also in the whole of Europe,” the Prime Minister said.
At the event, Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that the whole of Europe had shifted and was continually shifting in the direction of left-wing economic policies, and so the recognition that we kept hearing from everyone – that Europe was losing its competitiveness – was almost a cliché.
What we observe in Brussels is the very embodiment of left-wing economic policy which they have continually pushed for almost two decades now, resulting in bureaucracy, over-regulation, tax increases and “corruption is also allowed,” the Prime Minister stated.
In his speech, the Prime Minister asked entrepreneurs to use the few months before the elections well, to think over the opportunities facing Hungary and to make their decisions to the best of their knowledge.
“I suggest that under no circumstances should you listen to those,” he said in continuation, “who propose that Hungary should adjust to the European Union because rather than us going there, we must move away from there; if Europe needs anything, it is that Brussels should adjust to Hungary.”
He added that this was not easy according to the laws of gravity because this was where mass and size mattered, “but let’s not give up as Brussels has already adjusted to us on the issue of migration.”
Newton’s law of universal gravitation is in vain, at the end of the day, the bigger has adjusted to the smaller, and this will be so in the case of the war as well: Brussels will adjust to the Hungarian position, Mr Orbán confirmed.
He said he is certain that “the moment is not far off when Brussels will finally adjust to Hungary’s competitiveness policy as well and will adopt our measures, programmes, patterns seeking to boost competitiveness which are keeping the Hungarian economy alive today,”
In his speech, the Prime Minister drew attention to the fact that during the period ahead, not only the content of regulations, but also procedures themselves would be relevant to the operation of businesses.
If the other side introduces the institution of property audits – about which, in his words, he “could say a thing or two” – then businesses, too, will be required to submit property returns serving as the basis of the payable property tax, the Prime Minister pointed out, observing that he does not wish this moment “on ourselves, you included.”
If they restore certain procedures of the tax authority – now relegated to the past – such as ‘property stocktaking’ and ‘enrichment audit’, “these will serve as a vice, and you will find you wrists between its jaws,” he stressed.
He added that this was “an uncomfortable feeling,” and so businesses should thoroughly study the available economic programmes and should thoroughly consider the consequences of each.
No one should believe that the country’s present performance “is also achievable on autopilot,” the present level of performance also requires governmental performance, the Prime Minister added, asking businesses to make their election decisions after due deliberation.
“May you succeed in preserving the freedom of your businesses, don’t allow bureaucracy to crush your businesses, we should continue to have an economy in Hungary also next year that appreciates performance,” Mr Orbán said, concluding his speech.
