Magazine: Austria stands in the storm of the new mass migration wave

In 2014 Hungary’s agri-food export to Austria represented a EUR 721.3 million value, growing a little from the 2013 level but dropping from the 2012 level, which was a record year. The per capita GDP in Austria is EUR 45,400, economic growth is 1 percent, the inflation rate is 1.5 percent and unemployment is below the 4.5-percent threshold. 69.8 percent of the GDP is from services, 28 percent is contributed by industrial production and agriculture’s share is 1.6 percent. Austria gives priority to rural development in its agricultural policy, supporting rural tourism, the production of regional products and farmers’ markets. Every year several million foreigners decide to go on holiday in Austria, enjoying the beautiful countryside, the hospitality and modern services. Austria’s economy needs guest workers, for instance tens of thousands of Hungarians work at our western neighbour. However, recent news is that Austria can’t cope with the latest wave of mass migration and plans to examine who they can use and who they can send back to Hungary – the country where they entered the Schengen Area. There is another problem Austria and Hungary has to solve: the dispute over the so-called ‘pocket contracts’ – since Hungary’s 1993 land law many Austrian farmers purchased agricultural land in Hungary because it was much cheaper than back home and now it is them who receive the EU subsidies on this Hungarian land. The case is now already in front of the European Court of Justice, which will soon reach a decision. Austria is our 4th-5th biggest agri-food export market, where we sell 9-10 percent of Hungary’s total agricultural export. Looking back on the last 15 years – if we don’t calculate with the effects of the economic recession that broke out in 2008 – what we see is that Hungary’s agro-food export has been growing dynamically, but import from Austria has been expanding even faster. Still, our trade balance with Austria is positive: we export 1.82 times more than we impor