Orban added that when the Hungarian state bought a stake of over 20 percent in the oil and gas corporation MOL, that was both a business move and national commitment to that corporate group.

It is the duty of the Hungarian government, the biggest stakeholder in MOL, to protect jobs in that company. “If someone questions our merits, the government won’t let that go unanswered,” he added referring to the proceedings and debates related to MOL’s Croatian subsidiary, INA.

Though MOL is just a minority stakeholder in INA, it has management rights in it. To obtain them, Croatian authorities claim, MOL’s CEO and Chairman, Zsolt Hernádi bribed former Croatian Premier Ivo Sanader with EUR 10 million through offshore firms in Cyprus.

After Croatia issued an international arrest warrant against Hernadi, the Hungarian government declared that Croatia applied other than economic means to threaten its business partner and advised MOL’s management to look into ways of selling its stake in INA.

Zsolt Hernadi was among the speakers at the foundation stone ceremony on October 15. He said: “We could declare that everything is in order at MOL because that is the case. Obviously we also have some problems. Problems we had in the past too and we always found the way to solve them.” There aren’t any problems in the activities of MOL that couldn’t be solved, he continued.

“We are creating value. That is our duty. That is the way we are fighting those who are counteracting us,” Hernadi said.

The new plant will cost about HUF 30 billion and will start producing butadiene, the principal feedstock of synthetic rubber, in 2015.

Hernadi said synthetic rubber has several uses and is crucial for tire manufacturing, which is a growing industry in Hungary. Thanks, among other things, to MOL’s products, Hungary’s reliance on imported tires has decreased.

Viktor Orbán said during the ceremony that since the inauguration of this government in 2010 Hungary has reached a level when the foundation stone of a new plant is laid or a finished new plant is dedicated almost each week.

“Hungary has set out along the road of re-industrialization. That helps it come up with economic results that deserve to be counted with in this region,” he said.

Orban spoke of the need to generate jobs that require skilled labor because the other European countries are also competing for young people with skills. He stressed that this new investment project will increase TVK chemical plant’s ability to generate profit, which in turn will strengthen MOL.

Source: Magyar Nemzet

Translated by Budapest Telegraph