Brussels, 02/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - Is Tibor Navracsics going end paying the price for his close ties with President Orban? That is the question that was being asked after the hearing for the commissioner-candidate for the post of education, culture, youth and citizenship, following the numerous criticisms directed at him from the benches of the MEPs at the European Parliament's CULT committee on 1 October. Navracsics was expecting to have to defend European values, with Hungary having been involved, over recent years, in a trial of strength with the EU over its very controversial media and legal reforms (see EUROPE 11157). In his opening speech, he immediately asserted his support for European integration and provided assurances that, “being a commissioner is being a committed European and that means representing the European interest and nothing else, it means serving the interests of European citizens”. He underlined his determination to defend human dignity, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights and stated: “We are united by the same values”. Left-wing MEPs did not spare him on his past as the justice minister in the Orban government. At this stage it is by no means certain that the EP will vote in favour of Navracsics. The CULT committee decided to postpone its decision to 6 October, when it will announce the result after a meeting behind closed doors. The ALDE and GUE Groups, as well as the majority of S&D MEPs, have already indicated that they will vote against the appointment of the Hungarian candidate.
During his term of office, if appointed, Navracsics would work in a number of areas: youth employment, cultural and linguistic diversity, the cultural and creative industries, the modernisation of higher education. He highlighted six priority objectives that he will be pursuing: 1) education at the heart of European policy for growth and employment; 2) the prosperity of the creative and cultural industries in the digital era; 3) modernisation of European universities; 4) tackling youth unemployment (in partnership with the commissioner for employment); 5) the participation of young people in political and social life; 6) a revaluation of European citizenship. And although these competencies are not specified as being part of his portfolio, the commissioner-candidate intends to make a contribution to the sport and multilingual fields. In sport, he will focus on the protection of young athletes and tackling doping, match fixing and violence. He will be making a contribution to the first European Sports Week next year. In multilingualism, he will seek to promote and defend all languages.
A respectable commissioner for citizenship? This question became the leitmotif throughout the hearing, with sometimes very tough interventions being made reminding the commission-candidate of the undemocratic Hungarian laws he himself had defended as minister for justice. Navracsics hammered home the point that, “I'm a very firm supporter of the idea of plurality, freedom of expression and of the media”. He highlighted his role as a mediator in the conflict that pitted the EU against Hungary in 2010 and 2011. His answers did not exactly hit the bull's eye and Jean-Marie Caveda (ALDE, France) exclaimed: “Do you really think you are credible?” Margrete Auken (Greens/EFA, Denmark) said, “I am unconvinced, you have not given a concise response regarding the citizens' rights guarantee”. Fernando Maura Barandiarán (ALDE, Spain) stated, “I am not giving you the benefit of the doubt because Mr Orban does not respect democracy”. Alluding to the suppression of left-wing NGOs' tax status, Curzio Maltese MEP (GUE, Italy) said that civil society in Hungary was under threat. Navracsics said: “Personally, I have good relations with the NGOs, you will not find anything about any conflict during my mandate (Ed: as Minister for Justice) … I want to cooperate with the NGOs”. Only one Hungarian MEP from the EPP and a member of the Fidesz Party, Andras Gyürk, went to Navracsics' rescue opining that “a lot of things said had been wrong”.
The importance of investment in education. In reply to a question from Isabella Adinolfi (ELDD, Italy), the commissioner-candidate highlighted the importance of investing in schools, even in times of crisis, so as to provide pupils with ICT training and tools that they need in order to be able to deal with future challenges. “We need to convince the member states that this is a good return on investment”, he said.
Culture is not just a component in competitiveness. The commissioner-candidate provided reassurances to Milan Zver (EPP, Slovenia) that culture was not just an element in competitiveness and that more funding was needed for culture. He said that the cultural agenda is an instrument that will reinforce and protect cultural creativity.
Protecting linguistic diversity. Although MEPs - Liadh Ni Riada (GUE, Ireland), Soledad Cabezon Ruiz (S&D, Spain), Jill Evans (Greens/EFA, United Kingdom) - are concerned about linguistic diversity being watered down, given that multilingualism has not explicitly been conferred to the commissioner for education, Navracsics stated that languages were part of Europe's heritage and that he would be involved in defending minority languages, as protected by the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. (IL)