Hungary is on the right way

Created: 16th December, 2010 16:12 | Last updated: 16th December, 2010 16:13	print	send

Hungary is not planning to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because of the Moody's downgrade by two notches to Baa3 last week, said Hungary's head of government.
It is always better to rely on the money market instead of international organizations.

Responding to the journalists' inquiries, he admitted there are differences between the views of the government and the central bank (NBH) on monetary policy issues, but noted this was not unusual.
"We are on entirely different standpoints regarding the basics of economic policy and this is what is causing the tensions. The central bank follows the economic philosophy of exactly that era that led up to the economic crisis," he added.

Hungary's cabinet strives to bolster the local economy by "unconventional" measures, such as the levy on the financial sector and "crisis taxes," Orbán said. He also noted that they are trying to co-operate with the central bank as well.
"Democracy is like a café, there is always clamour and dispute but that is part of life," he added.

During the meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart, Andrius Kubilis, the main topic was the energy policy, which is a key issue not only in Central Europe, but also in the whole European Union. Viktor Orban stressed that Hungary is going to do its best during the presidency, although the next year is going to be the most difficult one for the EU in the past twenty years. Hungary's EU presidency is an excellent chance for Central Europe, especially if we take into consideration that Poland takes the presidency during the second half of 2011 and Lithuania takes the presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in January 1, 2011.

The Hungarian PM stressed the special relations between Hungary and Lithuania because of their common historical background; both countries experienced the previous socialist system.

After the meeting, Viktor Orban received the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas. This award was given him in 2009 for the cooperation and his support for Lithuanian independence. The Hungarian PM expressed his gratitude in the name of the people of Hungary.

Orban then travelled from Vilnius to the Estonian capital, Riga, where he met the Estonian prime minister. The Hungarian PM visited the Lithuanian and Latvian prime ministers during the Hungarian preparation for the EU presidency.