Europe needs new tools in the new era it has embarked on, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at a conference in Budapest on Tuesday.

He said it was time the states of central Europe were louder in voicing their opinions on sensitive issues. Central Europe has authority to speak, as without it the continent’s economy would not grow, he told the conference organised by the Visegrad grouping of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Hungary’s position is that the European Union’s contracts, including financial treaties, must be observed, Orban told the conference entitled “The Visegrad Group – Growth Engine of Europe”. Hungary rejects any “surreptitious” changes to the EU’s basic treaty and it considers blocking some sections of the fiscal pact an “extremely dangerous experiment,” he said.

On immigration, the Hungarian government is of the opinion that the free movement of labour must be ensured within the EU, but external immigration should be significantly slowed down, he said. If the continent needs skilled labour it should spend more on training its existing but unskilled workforce, such as Hungary’s Roma, he added.

Orban said Europe must respect its past in order to renew itself and it must respect Christianity and nations.

“We Hungarians feel it is important that hurtful manifestations turning marriage and family into relative values should be less sharp and disturbing in future,” he said.

Orban urged cheaper energy sources and said everyone should be given jobs, as this is what will put the economy on the right track. He added that the state, if temporarily, should therefore take up a larger role in job-creation.

The conference is attended by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commissioner for Regions Johannes Hann and the prime ministers of Visegrad countries.

The conference and a summit of V4 prime ministers on Tuesday marks the end of Hungary’s twelve-month presidency of the Visegrad Group. Hungary now passes the baton to Slovakia.