‘Make Europe great again’. On Tuesday 18 June in Budapest, the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council, which will begin its activities on 1 July, presented its priorities for the next six months, immediately choosing a slogan similar to the one chanted in 2016 by Donald Trump in a bid to win the US presidential election (‘Make America great again’).
With more than 177 events scheduled, 16 informal ministerial councils and a European Summit dedicated to competitiveness on 8 November in Budapest (which will follow a European Political Community Summit on 7 November), the Presidency has identified seven key themes: illegal migration, enlargement, European defence, competitiveness, the common agricultural policy, cohesion policy and demographics.
Also choosing a ‘Rubik’s Cube’ as its logo, the Hungarian Presidency intends to showcase “Hungarian ingenuity” in finding solutions to the EU’s problems. “There is always a way” to do this and to respond to the “complicated nature of European affairs”, explained Zoltán Kovács, Hungary’s State Secretary for International Communication and Relations, and János Bóka, Minister for European Union Affairs.
With these slogans and logo, the Hungarian Presidency intends to demonstrate that Europe is “capable of articulating its strategic interests and acting in agreement with its partners or on its own”.
“Hungary is not promising miracles, but progress and change in certain areas”, the two men also explained.
As far as enlargement is concerned, Hungary will not at any rate seek to raise the opening up of further stages for Ukraine’s accession, nor a further intergovernmental conference after the one called for on 25 June by the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council.
Hungary, on the contrary, expects the “enthusiasm” of certain Member States to also have an impact in the Western Balkans. “We also decided to be enthusiastic about the Western Balkans and to take concrete steps towards accession”.
The future Presidency intends to open a new chapter with Serbia, “as far as possible” close one with Montenegro and call for an intergovernmental conference for North Macedonia and Albania. It also wants to make progress with Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Presidency will organise a European Summit on the Western Balkans, but the date has not yet been set.
Honest broker
On the afternoon of 18 June, the Hungarian Ambassador to the EU, Bálint Ódor, also tried to elaborate on his country’s priorities. “We will do our best to ensure a smooth transition between the two legislative cycles”, and this in a “complex geopolitical” context, between the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.
Refusing to answer further questions on the choice of this “Trumpian” slogan, which is simply intended to show that “Europe is stronger together”, and on relations with Russia, the Ambassador promised that Hungary would act as an “honest broker”, despite the fact that the country recently blocked part of the payments provided for by the ‘European Peace Facility’ for Ukraine.
The implementation of this Facility “will continue”, he commented, without expanding further. The Ambassador also did not wish to comment specifically on the issue of the use of income generated by frozen Russian assets, which took on a different dimension at the G7.
The Presidency will have around 55 dossiers in the EU Council and 30 to 32 dossiers to negotiate with the European Parliament. Viktor Orbán will, of course, present these priorities at the Strasbourg plenary session, but the choice of the July session, coinciding with the potential European Parliament vote on the reappointment of Ms von der Leyen to lead the Commission, which the Hungarian leader rejects, or the September session, has not yet been decided, said the Ambassador.
With regard to the seven priorities, the Ambassador explained that, in the area of competitiveness, the focus will be on boosting the green and digital transitions, making life easier for SMEs and making progress on the Capital Markets Union. The Summit on 8 November is expected to result in a ‘Budapest Declaration’.
For European defence, it will be necessary to strengthen industrial capacity, cooperation and rules for public procurement, as well as access to financing.
With regard to illegal migration, it will be necessary to continue work with third and transit countries in line with past agreements, such as those with Tunisia and Egypt.
On the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, which Hungary rejects, Hungary will also be an “honest broker”, even if most of the work is “already behind us”. Hungary, like the other countries, will now also have to submit an implementation plan.
For Hungary, a key project will also be to achieve the full integration of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area by the end of the year.
Link to the website of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council: https://aeur.eu/f/cq0 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)