Hungary is ready to negotiate with the European Union over its controversial domestic legislation, Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi has declared.

Martonyi also denied allegations that his country is sliding towards autocracy, speaking on Friday, as cited by DPA.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's conservative government has faced international criticism over a slew of laws and constitutional amendments which, critics say, undermine the independence of the judiciary and the central bank, and rig electoral laws.

"These laws do not flout European values. It is possible that some mistakes were made on some issues. We propose to discuss them concretely," Martonyi said in a interview with Belgian daily Le Soir.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, is likely to start legal proceedings next week against Hungary's central bank law, a senior EU official told dpa this week.

The EU and the International Monetary Fund have said they expect the law to be changed before discussing an aid package, which Hungary desperately needs to avoid insolvency.

"We have said that everything is negotiable. We should not pose preconditions. We need to be flexible and be ready to accept a compromise. Once we see the (EU commission's) objections, we will immediately try to find solutions," Martonyi declared.

In Budapest, Orban gave a press conference in English to reassure the international media, in which he stated that the fundamentals of the Hungarian economy were "far stronger than many suggested," state agency MTI reported.

Overnight, IMF chief Christine Lagarde met in Washington with Hungarian minister Tamas Fellegi, who leads negotiations on an international stand-by loan agreement.

The IMF wants to see tangible steps that show the Hungarian government is committed to engage on all the policy issues that are relevant to macroeconomic stability' before it can consider starting negotiations for aid, Lagarde said.

EU Economy Commissioner Olli Rehn is expected to meet with Fellegi on January 20 in Brussels.

Over the past days, Hungary has also been rapped by the Commission over its excessive government deficit and illegal state aid to national airline Malev.

But Martonyi rejected criticism that his government was endangering democracy by concentrating power in its hands.

"There are some exaggerated and profoundly unjust statements. We should talk about some issues, but to say that we are going to dismantle democracy, that we are becoming an autocracy, is misrepresenting Hungary," he complained.

The European Union will make sure that Hungary complies with all the bloc's laws, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso declared on Thursday.