Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and German Chancellor Angela Merkel chiefly discussed economic issues at their two-hour meeting in Berlin on Wednesday.
Merkel told a subsequent joint press conference that last weekend’s suspension of talks between the IMF and Hungary will not affect bilateral economic relations.
However, she expressed hope that Hungary will step onto the path of long-term stability and called a 3.8% budget deficit a good target. While noting that Hungary is not a member of the euro zone, Merkel stressed that the Maastricht criteria apply to everyone.
Merkel welcomed Fidesz’s large-scale election victory, saying it will make stable governing possible.
Both described the introduction of a bank tax as important during their joint press conference. Merkel spoke of the Hungarian tax as a kind of precautionary measure aimed at averting the crisis, while Orbán said it is needed to whittle down the budget deficit and ensure economic growth.
Orbán said Hungarians are “world champions” when it comes to cutting spending, and paid tribute to the Bajnai cabinet’s consolidation policy, Kossuth Rádió reported.
Merkel said she and Orbán agreed that diversification of energy sources and reliable energy providers is needed, and in this context support the Nabucco gas pipeline project.
Orbán recalled that in recent years Fidesz has received and still receives much assistance from Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, and hinted at the assistance that Germany extended to Hungary’s EU accession. The two party leaders said it is a goal of all Christian Democrat parties to expel extremists from politics.
In a lecture Wednesday evening at the German Foreign Policy Society, Orbán said politicians should be cautious about making use of a two-thirds majority and that the Constitution must be honoured under any circumstances. However, he said Hungary will need a new Constitution.
He argued that Europe should further its ties with the US and shape a new kind of relationship with Russia.