Annual ambassadors’ meeting in the Foreign Ministry

Hungary has a vested interest in seeing the success of the Eurozone, as we are linked to the bloc in many ways, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, addressing the annual meeting of ambassadors in Budapest this week.

"A successful Eurozone will significantly increase the chances of a successful Hungarian economy," the Prime Minister stated, adding that the European Union would not see economic growth without Central Europe. He was of the view that the region's countries should have joined the union earlier.

The Prime Minister emphasized that a deeper institutional and eco-political integration of the Eurozone will take place, making large strides, over the next few years. He stressed, however, that his government pursues a policy of balance and does not approve of national competences being converted "on the sly" into community-level competences in the EU.

In his speech, Foreign Minister János Martonyi said Hungary has by and large significantly improved its relations with neighboring countries over the past three years.

He added that building trust is a time-consuming task but hope should never be abandoned. For a long time, there seemed to be no hope of progress in Serbia's case, but eventually the country recognized the collective rights of minorities, and the two presidents have recently made gestures of reconciliation.