Debat met Hongaarse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken in Europees Parlement (en)

At the hearing of the EP’s Committee on International Trade, Foreign Minister, János Martonyi, declared that the Hungarian Presidency had not chosen the motto “strong Europe with a human touch” by chance.

He said, “We believe that Europe can only be strong if it listens to the people besides economic issues”. He went on to present the Presidency’s trade policy priorities accordingly. He said, “Trade policy has a mission: to serve European economy, to serve growth, employment, job creation and human dignity”. He also underlined that the Presidency views trade policy as an important tool for implementing the EU2020 Strategy.

In response to questions by MEPs, the Minister expressed hope that Russia will soon be able to join the World Trade Organisation in harmony with the objectives of the December EU-Russia summit. He underlined the Hungarian Presidency’s willingness to start negotiations with Armenia and Georgia, about the free trade agreement according to the Commission’s next assessment, and articulated his trust that similar agreements will soon be reached with the Ukraine “as a key actor of the EU’s neighbourhood policy”... However, both parties need to show some flexibility to achieve this”, Mr Martonyi added.

At the hearing, the Minister made special mention of the need to maintain good commercial relations with the West Balkans, and also talked about the EU’s commercial relations with India, China and Japan. With respect to Columbia and Peru, the Hungarian Minister emphasised the key role of human rights.