Herman van Rompuy bezoekt Budapest voor wisseling EU voorzitterschap (en)
Herman Van Rompuy i will visit Budapest for a last “time check” before the start of the Hungarian Presidency on 1st January 2011. The permanent President of the European Council is to meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán i. The meeting will be of key importance in ensuring a smooth cooperation between the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the President of the European Council during the upcoming six months.
Herman Van Rompuy will visit Hungary on 21st December to meet with the Head of the Hungarian Government, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and review the agenda of the upcoming six months and to discuss all the tasks and topics in which the President of the European Council and the rotating Presidency have to support and reinforce each other.
During the first half of 2011, there will be two events where Herman Van Rompuy and Viktor Orbán will co-host the attendees. In May, the leaders of the EU’s eastern neighbour countries will attend the Eastern Partnership Summit and in June Budapest will host the EU-Asia Summit for Foreign Ministers.
The President of the European Council will also address the audience at an event organised by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS). Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi and HAS President József Pálinkás will both speak at the closing event of the series of conferences that have accompanied the preparations for the Presidency and will speak about the challenges facing the European Union.
Herman Van Rompuy has been the Permanent President of the European Council since December 2009. Heads of State and Government of the 27 Member States of the European Union meet in the framework of the European Council to define the main directions for the development of the EU. The meetings are chaired and prepared by the Permanent President on the basis of the work performed under the supervision of the rotating Presidency. Member States rotate every half year to assume the role of the Presidency. Hungary will take the office over from Belgium on 1st January 2011.