Permanent Vertegenwoordiger Györkös: Hongaars voorzitterschap maakt verwachtingen waar

The Hungarian Presidency is embodied in the “frontline” by the Permanent Representation in the EU. In his article written for eu2011.hu, head of Representation Péter Györkös, called the adoption of the legislative package on economic governance, the greatest and the most daunting challenge for the remainder of the Presidency’s term. He also mentioned the Croatian accession talks, the issues of asylum and the Schengen Area as key topics.

At the beginning of the Presidency’s term in January, I said in response to a question by eu2011.hu that in a way Hungary was going to take on the conductor’s role. Now, in May, I can say in retrospect that the Hungarian Presidency has demonstrated a kind of duality all along. We have completed our jobs as planned with great precision and have managed to keep the deadlines for virtually all issues that had been in progress when we took over or that we knew would appear on the agenda. In this sense, the Presidency has made a perfect use of the score by meeting all expectations.

Critical situations

At the same time, we have come to face more unexpected and often critical situations in the past four months than usual. The events in North Africa, especially in Libya, the disaster in Japan, and their effects on the EU in terms of migration and energy policy, including the debate on nuclear energy, have called for continuous re-planning and rapid decisions. Also, managing the consequences of the crisis inside the Eurozone, particularly in Ireland, Portugal and Greece, has maintained our attention on a continuous basis.

Moreover, all this is happening in a space, which was defined by the Lisbon Treaty where the Presidency is only one actor of the EU’s decision-making mechanism. As a result, we were not only forced to take control of the events, but also to cooperate and consult with the other actors: the Permanent President of the European Council, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the European Parliament and the Commission.

I think we did our best in this role, too, as we were always able to make some space on our schedule for these unexpected affairs while progressing with our planned topics. In sharing the jobs of various institutions, we removed lots of burdens from the other actors and managed to tackle and avoid several conflicts; and our engagement and decisions did not receive any criticism.

Agreement on economic governance

In addition to the tight conduction of the Presidency program and the consistent representation of our priorities, special mention should be made towards our achievements so far, concerning the adoption by the Council of the legislative package on economic governance. We had managed to reach an agreement by mid-March and given our ongoing negotiations with the Parliament, chances are that we will be able to have the definitive laws adopted before the European Council’s session in June. Needless to say, there is no guarantee for that. This is the job that heads of state and government assigned to us, which we are trying to accomplish on time.

Energy strategy and European patent

Also, we successfully prepared the energy summit in February. The resulting conclusions were used by energy ministers to adopt the European energy strategy and the agreement on the priorities of energy infrastructure. This will set the direction for the development of the European energy market for many years, which is especially important for Central Europe.

Another major achievement is that, after a long preparation and as the conclusion of a debate going on for decades, we succeeded in gathering and keeping 25 countries together to start discussing the uniform European patent. This will free innovative businesses from the burden of billions of Euros, by making the economic utilisation of their inventions simpler and cheaper.

Cohesion, Danube Strategy and agricultural policy

In the field of cohesion policy, we adopted Council conclusions based on a consensus of Member States regarding eligibility for EU funding in the future and the possible criteria for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of subsidies. By raising the debate to a high political level we managed to preserve the outstanding role of cohesion policy in Europe.

I should add that the Council conclusions on the Danube Strategy will enable us to launch the projects already, before the European Council’s final decision.

I think it is another achievement that Member States, despite minor reservations by some of them, ended up supporting the principles in the conclusions drafted by the Presidency, in conjunction with the CAP reform. Since we know that the countries which casted a negative vote, only objected to individual ideas, the Presidency’s conclusions will represent a major value when it comes to the final elaboration of the CAP reform.

Schengen enlargement

Finally, although Hungary has done its best to promote the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen, and we are still expecting partial results, it is already clear that the two countries’ accession cannot take place during the Hungarian Presidency’s term. Despite this, we have no reason to be disappointed, because we have worked very hard, and the delay of the final results does not depend on us.

Final efforts

The end of the Presidency’s term is always the toughest part, because even the ordinary operation of EU institutions generates most issues to be addressed at the time. During the past four months we have proven our ability to fulfil the EU Presidency’s responsibilities at the highest level. Now we have to make one last major effort. Most importantly, the Hungarian Presidency should perform its tasks respectably and decently. Whether or not we manage to close a particular dossier due to external factors, our self-estimation must be determined by whether we did everything to achieve it.

Package of six legislative proposals

In view of this, I would like to highlight four important fields out of the several hundred issues, which the Presidency will be dealing with during the next two months. We are conducting highly intense, weekly negotiations with the European Parliament, on the legislative package of the EU’s economic governance. If we fail to reach an agreement by the end of June, Europe’s comprehensive response to the economic crisis will be endangered, as economic governance is the cornerstone of such measures. However, this mission is almost impossible, as we are speaking about six laws, a co-decision procedure, two thousand amendment proposals, and we also have to take into consideration the European Parliament’s unique political environment.

Croatia ’s EU accession

We would like to close the accession negotiations with Croatia. Currently, we have five chapters open which may be closed in June depending on Croatia’s performance. Croatia’s accession to the EU, not only has a strategic importance for Hungary, but it can also be a model for the entire Western Balkans. And the integration of countries within this region, is in the interest of all Europe.

Migration

Another very serious challenge is the medium-term management of the migratory pressure on the EU, mainly in the wake of the events that has occurred in North Africa, and the reinforcement of the Schengen system. The Council of Home Affairs Ministers, will hold another meeting during the Hungarian Presidency’s term, where we will try to prepare for the end-of-June summit to the greatest possible extent.

Roma framework strategy

We would also like to receive a high-level approval for the Roma framework strategy, at the European Council’s meeting in June. We are ambitious for all dimensions of the problem to be represented in a balanced way in the final agreement. The emphasis is on employment, education, social aspects and social inclusion, but many other Member States highlight other aspects as well, such as organised crime. We have no illusions; we do not think that the European framework strategy will resolve the Roma population’s problems, especially not instantly. But we believe that it will make a major contribution to reinforcing solutions at a national level.