EXCLUSIVE: In India, Hungary's Foreign Minister Szijjártó Discusses Modi, Nationalism, Brexit & More

what is the course of the next few days you will have a lot of world leaders flying to New Delhi but some have flown into Mumbai and have someone very special someone who enjoys the ties that India shares with Europe and Hungary I have the foreign affairs minister of Hungary in the Republic TV studios this evening Peter cierto who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Hungary just to introduce Peter a little bit and what Peter's Government and Peter's country stands for at this time in age he's a nationalist he's a young leader one of Hungary's youngest ministers independent conservative on issues that concerns his people Peter's here to welcome to Republic TV and welcome to India thank you for invitation happy to be here yeah so Peter let's start with some of the issues that Hungary is tackling today Hungary is battled with IMF for one has been a long one and you and your country has been fighting the IMF at one point I remember about 10 years ago we have entered office in 2010 when Hungary was really at the edge of the cliff we were under an IMF program and then we have put together a action plan how to get out of the crisis and how to make Hungary strong and an IMF did not want to approve that economic policy strategy of ours so we rather concluded the cooperation with IMF and we have gained back the freedom to act and then we have we have followed and completed a very brave economic policy an economic policy the basis of which was the elimination of the progressive tax system and the introduction of flat tax flat tax both on personal income and on corporate income and currently we offer the lowest tax rates of Europe yes we are the only country which offers a single-digit corporate income tax rate 9% yes and 15% personal income tax rate these are the lowest ones in Europe we have been continuously the tax rate on labor and as a conclusion of that currently we have the highest growth rate of the European Union five point one percent our unemployment rate reduced from 12.5% to 3.5% in our state that has been reduced from 85 percent of GDP to 65 percent of GDP so we have boosted the economy and in the meantime we have kept the discipline when it comes to budget and financial issues and the basis for this success was the introduction of the flat tax system so just to give you an idea we are not as big country as India yes we are only 10 million people so don't laugh at it please 10 million people and back in 2010 there were only 1.8 million taxpayers now we have 4.5 million taxpayers so half your country is being taxed is almost Africa basically the employment rate has basically surpassed 70 percent we inherited less than 50 percent so you can you can see that instead of 1.8 million 4.5 million people have a job and pay tax and and this is the basis for this economic success we were able to complete of course it wouldn't have been possible without a stable political system and without the Hungarian people but the Hungarian people have voted in a unforeseen unity 2010 14 and 18 the current ruling party received so many words that currently occupy two-thirds of the seats in the parliament on our own with no coalition in what we call a super majority yeah yeah yeah right because you're so mature yeah so so you know we've been reading about Indian investments in Hungary especially upswing in recent years I think across sectors information technology pharmaceuticals power equipment auto components etc some of India's biggest companies are in Hungary so what makes it easy for them to do business with you look first of all as I told you the lowest tax rates are very a track on the other hand we apply a one-stop shop system meaning that whoever comes to invest in Hungary and has anything to do with the state can do it through the Investment Promotion agency there's a project manager for the company and and they will be helped through the process and we operate a very wide variety of cash incentives for investments up to 50% 5-0 percent of the volume of the investment cash so it's not a promise for the upcoming 30 years in the form of tax allowance its cash directly up to 50 percent and this makes us very attractive and we really respect the Indian investors a lot because number one they are very diligent number two they bring the latest technologies to the country yes and number three they contribute to the change of the dimension of our national economy when it comes to increasing the added value increasing the technological standards increasing the rnd share so we really like the Indian investors the biggest Indian investor in Hungary is sambhar Hana mother so yes they they operate more factories and the field of automotive components then Tata Group but the Tata Consultancy Services yes consultancy services they they employ more than 2000 people and there are there are employees of tata consultancy services speaking more than 40 languages in the in the shared service center of the company and we have a polo tires huge tire factory we have CG electric and the long list of Indian companies all together around 40 big relatively big Indian investments are there in the country employing a little bit more than 10,000 Hungarians so we respect that very much and we we have signed strategic cooperation agreement with the SMR group with the Tata Group and with the CG electric as well something you told me is a matter of debate in India that of income tax rates and the flat tax rate lowest tax I think the corporate tax is standardized 9 percent 9 percent personal is 15 personal is 15 right so how did you how did your country and your government when you you know inherited the crisis a decade ago sort of managed to balance the economy with such low tax rates what were your lessons for the economy well the key is that you need to be extremely disciplined when it comes to fiscal and budgetary issues and on the other hand we had a principle the principle is the following the state does not pay anything for nothing the stay only pays something for something meaning that the vast majority vast majority of the state subsidies given to people are given to them in a form of tax exemption right meaning that in order to enjoy the state taking care of you you have to work and it doesn't make sense you had to hide your salary it makes sense to work more it makes sense to earn more because in a form of tax exemption you got subsidies from the state so we have decreased the unemployment ate period for three months if one is not able to find a job on the labor market for three months then the state offers a job and if this job offered by the state is being rejected then the given person is out of the social system so everybody has to work who can because this is the only way you know to bring the country forward so we basically this economic policy is based on the Hungarian people the work of the Hungarian people right so I remember when I was in in Hungary I visited Budapest I think in 2014-2015 roughly around that time and if I'm not wrong from my personal memory there's a unique problem that some cities like Budapest faced I don't know I mean I'm sure you've dealt with it now one way you faced large-scale immigrants a lot of people there was an influx and yet how did Hungary manage to fight that problem because in India we have the the biggest debate today in India and I'm sure you know about it is about these look we have a very heavy debate within the European Union about the illegal migration yeah we belong to the those dead group of the countries which runs a very strong anti migration policy our policy is the following that we reject the story that we stick to our right to make a decision on our own whom we would like to let enter the territory of our country and he with whom we would like to live together and with whom not so this decision must be made by us Hungarians and not by Brussels not by Geneva not by New York by international organizations not by international organizations by us Hungarians so what we have done was we have sealed off the green border we have built a fence there a strong one which it does not allow anybody who entered the territory of the country illegally yet we made it very clear that the only way to come to Hungary is the legal way if someone would like to come to Hungary illegally we consider it as a violation of our sovereignty and we push it back so currently I can tell you that we belong to that little number or small number of of EU Member States which country does not have any illegal migrants on the territory of the country we have over zero zero zero because we made it clear that this is not the way you spoke about border fences yeah do I mean going by your statistic certainly they work border fences work hungry did it and Trump wants to do it so what's been your experience of building a wall or a structure how difficult was it to execute I'm sure there's been there's been a debate about it costs a lot of money yes but since this was the will of the people because you know in 2015 when we didn't have the fence and the European migration policy was really irrational let's put it this way and that was basically an invitation to the people to come to Europe illegally there were 400,000 illegal migrants marching through the territory of the country behaving extremely aggressively yes showing no respect to the Hungarian people to the way of life of ours to our rules to our laws to our culture nothing attacking our police occupying public areas blocking the railway lines and the highways so the Hungarian people had a very clear expectation to stop it now this is the obligation of the state yeah it's the obligation of the state to ensure the security of the country and the citizens yeah so we started to build a fence very quickly yeah and you know it's pencil I mean you have to spend a lot because there are continuous attacks against the fence there there people look our police and our military is there I mean they are deploy here and and there are 150 persons in an average on a daily basis making an attempt to come in 150 on a daily basis but we push them back I've been to Cali just when Kelly in France the camp when the Paris attacks happen I remember I saw the sort of you know the aggressive behavior of most of these immigrants so I sort of you know agree with most of what you said but short question on on the European Commission referring you know taking you to court and how you're fighting the European Court of Justice over the laws to toughen the eligibility you know requirements for asylum seekers what is your stand why do you strongly believe that Hungary should be for Hungarians that's something that we believe in India that India should be only for Indians look what I can tell you is the following those persons who violated our border have crossed at least six safe countries before they got to Hungary yeah because if you leave for example Libya or Syria Syria you definitely pass Turkey which is a safe country you pass Bulgaria which is a safe country you pass Macedonian North Macedon which is a safe country you pass Serbia which is a safe country or you pass Croatia which is a safe country four five six safe countries you know I mean how can you how can you explain that what is the reason for someone to violate the border between two safe countries there's no no right of the person's never never no very international regulations to violate a border between two peaceful countries you know what international law says that if you have to escape from your home because of war because of discrimination or whatever then you have the right to go to the first safe place here and then stay there temporarily yeah until the reason why you had to escape it's over that's an international law does not say that you wake up in the morning you pick a country on the map like Germany and in order to get there you are allowed to violate a series of borders between safe countries so by definition those who wanted to violate the border between Serbia and Hungary or Croatia and Hungary they cannot be refugees I mean they're migrants they are economic migrants other types of migrants who wanted to go to Sweden Austria or Germany but I mean if we let them do do so then it's a violation on our sovereignty and then afterwards from Berlin from Stockholm from Vienna there would have been phone calls saying that look these guys came to us through you so please take them back I mean come here but and what's been your experience in terms of what was the fallout of it I mean III read reports how it the crime rate for one fell by a large extent is that correct yeah well in Hungary the crime rate has been falling for the last ten years since we have been in office that's for sure but if you look at the western part of Europe is different there are parallel society Amin is paying for it I mean perilous societies have been created with all the risk of this phenomenon parallel societies you know so you know the threat of terror has been increasing more than 30 terrorist attacks had been committed on the territory of Europe which is totally unusual I mean we have we have never experienced and at least in the last couple decades things like that so and there were Western European politicians suggesting as if terror is a threat of terror would be a natural part of of metropolitan life no I mean we don't accept that why should it be on the issue of Brick City or Prime Minister Viktor Orban has given an endorsement to Boris Johnson and breaks it I think he's gone on record to back brexit that's correct this is his look we really regret the decision of the British but we respect it as well we never judge we never criticize decisions of other people and other countries and other nations because it is only the British who have the right to make a decision over their own future they have decided in this way it had many reasons we regretted it because we would have preferred if they stayed because European Union will it will cause some damage if they leave of course you know economically speaking 14 percent of the European economic achievement politically they will be missed from the next debate security wise so it's a it's really it's really bad that they are leaving but but this is the decision of the British people so and you know we have to recognize that Boris Johnson is the only Prime Minister in the last couple of years in a history of United Kingdom since the brexit vote who really would like to would like to complete or fulfil the will of the yeah because the brexit was decided on the referendum yes a referendum meaning we love the people here either we like it or whether we don't like it but this is the will of the people and and democratically elected politicians must fulfill the will of the people so I I'm really I'm really fed up to be honest with all these criticism um Boris Johnson not just because we are personally in a very good relationship back from times when he also served as a foreign secretary and we we really built a very good person relationship but I felt a fee that because this is very hypocritical yeah I mean he's the one who would like to fulfill the will of the British people yeah and then he was under attack for that I mean this is not democracy one final question with India where do you see your relations going forward especially with the government that shares many things in common too you know broaden their on economic policy on illegal immigrants on border security on investments in general to make in India program I think has many countries yeah yeah actually we respect Prime Minister Modi very much because we're respectful additions who are patriotic and we look at patriotism as not something dangers you know liberal mainstream international liberal media liberal politicians tend to pose patriotism as something bad and dangers we think totally to the other direction patriotism is good because we Patriots we respect each other that I mean we respect President Trump a lot saying that America first because I mean what would what should he say one is first or America is number one you know so these are so hypocritical so hypocritical and politically correct criticisms you know so we respect the Prime Minister Modi a lot hopefully tomorrow we the foreign ministers joining the rise in a dialogue will be received by him that's going to be a great honor for us of course and yeah and we have also discovered these similar kind of approaches to major dilemmas of global economy and global politics between the two administrations yes but we have to put it into consideration that you are a superpower we are a small Central European countries so the dimensions are different yes but still the the the let's say the direction of the approach it's pretty similar well absolutely Peters here - such a pleasure having you Republic TV studios like a beautiful nice talking to you and all of you near once again thank you [Music]

Channel: Republic World

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Id: 2Tnh5mDMd3E

Length: 17min 45sec (1065 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 15 2020