Orbán: Success of eurozone important for Hungary

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stressed the importance of the success of the eurozone for Hungary at a joint press conference with Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, in Budapest on Wednesday. Orbán said Hungary supports measures to strengthen the eurozone, even though the country has not adopted the common currency. Van Rompuy said 2012 was a turning point for the eurozone crisis. In spite of the results achieved by managing the crisis, Van Rompuy said Europe must continue to proceed, gradually and steadily, toward the creation of a genuine economic union. He called the recent agreement reached on the EU's 2014-2020 budget “good and important” both for Hungary and for Europe. Orbán said he had asked Van Rompuy to be receptive to and understanding of Hungarian economic policy measures that appear unconventional to eurozone members, in light of the country's economic problems stemming from its communist path as well as its own peculiarities.