Head of PM’s Office: Hungary has good ties with all leading world powers

Addressing a regular press briefing on Thursday, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, hailed this week’s meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and US President Donald Trump as “an outstanding diplomatic achievement”, adding that Hungary had “balanced, good ties” with all leading world powers.

Gulyás said relations were “especially good” with all global powers with which “economic and political cooperation is of great significance”.

He said parliament was expected to approve a new bilateral defence cooperation agreement between Hungary and the US in the session following the European Parliament elections.

In response to a question, Gulyás said Orbán had not invited Trump to Budapest, adding, at the same time, that the two leaders would meet if it became necessary.

He noted that Hungary was in the middle of reforming its military so that the country can join the ranks of NATO member states whose defence spending reaches 2 percent of GDP. Hungary’s defence budget is expected to reach 1.6 percent of GDP next year, he said, adding that the 2 percent target was likely to be met by 2023.

Hungary intends to buy the equipment necessary for the reform from NATO allies, Gulyás said, adding that the government was in talks with multiple member states.

On the subject of Trump’s measures aimed at slashing his country’s trade deficit, Gulyás said it was “good news” that the European Union was in second place behind China in terms of the size of their trade surplus with the US. But, he added, if the US and the EU failed to reach an agreement on trade, the US could impose measures that could hurt the Hungarian economy.

On the subject of proceedings against Hungary at the European Court of Justice concerning migrant quotas, Gulyás said Hungary believed that the Lisbon Treaty did not allow for the distribution of migrants based on quotas.

He insisted that the EU was applying double standards, arguing that only one member state had implemented the quota scheme, yet not every member state had been taken to court.

Hungary believes that in order to successfully handle the migration issue, the European Commission should be stripped of its capacity to manage it, and it should be handled instead by a council of the bloc’s interior ministers, he said.

In response to a question, Gulyás said the first meeting with the body of “wise men” set up by the European People’s Party to monitor the situation in Hungary was expected to be held after the European Parliament elections. Under Fidesz’s agreement with the EPP, “everyone’s interests lie in settling the issue after the EP elections,” he added.