Merkel visit sends “important signal”, says former ambassador

Gergely Prohle, who was posted in Berlin early in the aughts and is now a deputy state secretary in the Human Resources Ministry, said Merkel is seeking  a solution to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as well as tensions between the European Union and Russia. Hungary is obviously interested in easing these tensions, he added.

Merkel is sending the signal with her visit that the interests of Hungary and Germany are the same in this area, he said. Hungary is part of the solution not the problem, which translates as a kind of commitment from the Hungarian side in support of a solution, he explained.

Prohle said the visit would further boost the confidence of German investors in Hungary and noted the “efflorescence” of the German automotive industry in Hungary. In addition to economic ties, Hungary and Germany’s friendship is based on a whole list of other factors, he said, citing support for fiscal discipline on a European scale, political stability, cultural similarities and Hungary’s ethnic German minority.

He said Merkel also wanted to mark with her visit the anniversary, last year, of the opening of the Iron Curtain. Hungary’s role in the events a quarter of a century ago that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall is still fresh in Germans’ collective memory, he added.