Brussels, 17/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen restated on Tuesday his appeal to the Hungarian government to begin serious and substantive consultation with neighbouring countries (mainly Slovakia and Romania) on the implementation of the "status law" on persons belonging to Hungarian minorities living outside Hungary. The law in itself does not run counter to the provisions of the EU/Hungary Europe Agreement (which, at this stage, is the contractual reference base), but its application could cause problems if the Hungarian government did not consult the neighbouring countries where such minorities live (Romania and Slovakia) in order to find a modus vivendi conform to international rules acceptable to all, said Mr Verheugen. He was speaking in Brussels, on Tuesday, after a meeting of the EU/Hungary Association Council. The Hungarian government has promised the Commission it will undertake these consultations on concrete application of the law which, it is known, aims to grant members of Hungarian minorities abroad certain specific rights in Hungary that the citizens of these foreign countries do not obviously have. Mr Verheugen said he was confident that the Hungarian government would find a practical solution with its neighbouring countries, a solution that would be compatible with European rules, "in a spirit of good neighbourliness".
The work of the Association Council were largely dominated by an inventory of Hungary's internal preparations with a view to its accession to the EU. Thus, as far as political criteria are concerned, the Council welcomed the efforts of the Hungarian government to improve the living conditions of the Rom minority, but also called for implementation of the medium term programme in this connection to be speeded up. Hungary was also invited to do more to improve the way justice works, mainly the Supreme Court where a large number of cases have been pending for too long. Reform of the public administration should also be continued relentlessly. At the economic level, the Council expressed its satisfaction for the stability and the consistency of Hungary's macro-economic policy, and for the rate of economic and structural reforms in progress. The adoption of acquis communautaire is making good progress, even if further effort will be needed in fields such as competition, State aid, transport and audiovisual policy.