Hungary and Ireland will not accept any efforts by the European Union to harmonise corporate and other tax rules.

“Taxation is an important component of competition,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a joint news conference with his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar on January 4.

“We would not like to see any regulation in the EU, which would bind Hungary’s hands in terms of tax policy, be it corporate tax, or any other tax,” Orban said. “We do not consider tax harmonisation a desired direction.”

As reported by the Reuters news agency, Hungary, which relies heavily on foreign investment to power its economy, runs the EU’s lowest corporate tax rate at 9%, while Ireland’s 12.5% rate is also among the lowest in the 28-member bloc.