New Dutch Economy Minister is Hungary’s former Honorary Consul

“Several months after the victory of our friend Geert Wilders’ party, the Dutch government has taken the oath of office, including our Honorary Consul Dirk Beljaarts, who speaks excellent Hungarian,” wrote Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó on Facebook, also posting a congratulatory letter in Hungarian.

As he wrote, Dirk Beljaarts has worked for many years with dedication for the development of Dutch-Hungarian relations and has helped our compatriots in their troublesome affairs. Dirk Beljaarts will now continue his work as Minister for Economic Affairs. We thank him for the joint work in the past years and we are ready to work together in the years to come, Péter Szijjártó wrote in his post.

The letter said that today the slowdown in economic growth and the decline in competitiveness are among the most pressing problems facing Europe. The crises of recent years have put us at a significant disadvantage in these areas compared to other economic powerhouses outside Europe. For this reason, one of our most important tasks is to restore Europe’s economic competitiveness, rejecting any political ideology that hinders this and is completely devoid of rational considerations, the letter reads.

With this in mind, one of the top priorities of the Hungarian EU Presidency is to make significant progress in the EU competitiveness pact, “in which we count on your support and that of the Netherlands,”

wrote Péter Szijjártó.

“During our presidency, we will stand up against the tendency towards bloc formation. In our view, we need a strong European internal market based on strong national economies, a solid and unified European internal market and the maintenance and expansion of free trade relations,” he added.

In his letter, Péter Szijjártó expressed his appreciation and thanks to Dirk Beljaarts for his almost 10 years of honorary consular work for Hungary and for the development of Hungarian-Dutch relations.

I am confident that with the new Dutch government taking office, relations between the Netherlands and Hungary will be further strengthened,”

the letter concludes.

Via MTI, Featured image: X/Dirk Beljaarts