Speaking to journalists ahead of a meeting of his EU peers in Brussels on Tuesday, Márton Nagy, National Economy Minister, said decision-makers needed to revisit the issue of the global minimum tax on big corporations in the context of the United States' decision to withdraw from the OECD agreement.

"We have to investigate whether the present form of the global minimum tax is really valid for the future to preserve or strengthen the competitiveness of the European Union," Minister Nagy said.

The minister added that the future of the global minimum tax was on the agenda of the Ecofin meeting.

Minister Nagy said the US decision to withdraw from the agreement on the global minimum tax could present problems for the EU because of the benefits of the step to non-EU countries, even as the EU faces a "competitiveness crisis". He added that the relocation of multinationals needed to be avoided.

Fielding questions on a recommendation that would allow exemptions for defense spending from excessive deficit procedures, Minister Nagy said discussions were in the "initial phase", with differences over what should be defined as defense expenditures and what should serve as the reference rate. He added that Hungary took the position that member states should be allowed to decide what constitutes defense spending, while others wanted to adopt the NATO definition.

Details of the proposal are being hammered out and are expected to take shape in a package in the spring, he said.