The Hungarian presidency of the EU will, in the first half of next year, continue to advocate the principle of burden sharing and ensure Malta receives “special treatment” on key issues such as immigration.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán assured his Maltese counterpart that his country “fully understood” the headaches of being a border country because “Hungary knows what it meant to be on the edge”.
He described burden sharing as “essential” and said his country would work on this principle once it assumed the presidency of the EU in January.
Addressing a joint press conference with Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi following talks, Mr Orbán said he was happy Hungary was not yet a member of the eurozone because of the problems affecting the single European currency. However, he was satisfied with the measures the eurozone countries had decided to adopt to strengthen the euro.
In a reference to the bailout for Ireland, Mr Orbán spoke of Hungary’s own experience with bailouts when two years ago the country’s economy collapsed. He recounted how speed in requesting aid was of utmost importance and how those countries which requested help fast paid a lower price.
The issue, he said, was not the bailout, but life after the bailout. Speaking from the Hungarian experience after receiving help from the International Monetary Fund two years ago, he said countries in such situations should accept assistance as soon as it becomes available but then seek to return to the bond markets as quickly as possible.
Mr Orbán said his country was against tax harmonisation – muted recently in some quarters of the EU – since this could undermine the competitiveness of some countries. He insisted economic recovery must be accompanied by job creation.
“We have to come out of this crisis and this has to be accompanied by job creation. Jobs, jobs, jobs are my understanding of the future,” he stressed.
Mr Orbán also remarked how this was the first time a Hungarian Prime Minister had made an official visit to Malta, describing the failure to do so earlier as a “great mistake”.
Dr Gonzi said the talks with his Hungarian counterpart had focused on EU and bilateral issues including migration and the need for effective burden sharing and repatriation facilities. Other issues covered were the economic situation, competitiveness and job creation.
Dr Gonzi said Malta would continue to support countries to overcome their difficulties as quickly as possible.
Mr Orbán said other priorities of his country’s presidency would be energy security and EU enlargement – a special summit on energy was planned for February and he was planning to conclude accession talks with Croatia and talks with Romania and Bulgaria for their accession into the Schengen zone.