Hongaars EU-voorzitterschap: Vruchtbare samenwerking met Europees Parlement gedurende afgelopen voorzitterschap (en)

At the Constitutional Committee hearing of the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels on 15 June 2011, Eniko Gyori reported on the progress made in institutional matters. According to the Minister of State for EU Affairs, Hungary has kept its promise to lead a Parliament-friendly Presidency, and has managed to approximate the positions of the institutions in several debates.

“Citizens do not care that we cannot find solutions to certain institutional issues. (…) What they care about is whether we can make decisions”, stressed Eniko Gyori at the hearing in the European Parliament. She said that Hungary has run a Parliament-friendly Presidency during its term, not only by having the obligatory meetings with MEPs, but also by striving for cooperation with the EP in each case whenever it was necessary, thus creating a much healthier institutional setup.

The Minister of State asked the MEPs for further support to accomplish the two most important priorities of the Presidency: to close the accession negotiations with Croatia and to adopt the six-law package on the economic governance reform.

Ms Gyori reminded MEPs that the package of six legislative proposals was the only element of the EU’s comprehensive response to the economic crisis which will not be decided on intergovernmental level but through the institutional mechanisms. Thus the adoption of the six proposals would also convey the message that the Community method works even in such difficult matters, the Minister of State pointed out.

In that context she also reminded the EP that the institutions were engaged in exemplary cooperation concerning the Treaty amendment, which the European Council adopted at its meeting of 24-25 March. This was necessary for developing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The Hungarian Presidency achieved as well that the Council will inform the EP regularly when the ESM is applied.

Progress in institutional conflicts

Although the Treaty of Lisbon took effect in December 2009, several institutional conflicts are still unsolved, which generates tension between the Council and the European Parliament from time to time.

The Parties have not managed to find a solution for each of these during the Hungarian Presidency’s term, but significant progress has been made in individual cases. At the hearing, Minister of State Gyori mentioned that Member States adopted a more flexible position on the transparency record of lobbyists due to the Presidency’s mediation, which could give rise to trialogues on the issue in the near future. Ms Gyori also talked about the progress achieved in the matter of access to classified documents. The Council ensured access to such documents, and the EP started working on the appropriate amendment in compliance with its internal security policy.

It was the Presidency’s own initiative, that the European Parliament should be involved in the development of the multiannual financial framework (MFF). “We wanted to clarify the procedure, so when the Commission presents its proposal at the end of June, work can start immediately”, Ms Gyori said, and added that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán i sent a direct letter to EP President Jerzy Buzek i on the Council’s approach. Specifically, regular meetings will take place among the presidents of the Council, the EP and the European Council. They will discuss budgetary issues, furthermore, when the MFF is on the agenda of the European Council, the EP’s president will be given the opportunity to contribute to the discussion at the beginning of the meeting. In addition, MEPs will be able to exchange views with the Presidency Trio before every meeting of the General Affairs Council where the MFF is on the agenda, then the Presidency will provide an update on the results of the debate in the Council.

One of the most complex debates is concerned the so-called correlation tables, which help to check how individual member states transferred the provisions of the directive to their respective legal systems.In fact, the European Parliament made the use of such tables de facto obligatory by saying that it will not discuss any directive which lacks such table. The Council rejected this unilateral step.

Minister of State Eniko Gyori reminded MEPs that the Presidency has had a hard time making the Council’s position flexible in any discussion against such a rigid position of the European Parliament.Furthermore, this stalemate causes delays in many other issues and this can hardly be defended politically.In case of the bluetongue disease, there is a risk that farmers will not be able to administer inoculations this year if the institutions continue the debate.“We cannot tell citizens that we cannot come up with a solution to this severe disease because we disagree on the correlation tables”, said Ms Gyori.

In service of European citizens’ rights

Eniko Gyori also talked about the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which - since the Treaty of Lisbon has come into force - has the same legal value as the founding Treaties. The European Commission adopted its first annual report on the 2010 application of the Charter in March, and also reported on its own activity. During the past 18 months, the Council has adopted various measures to support the implementation of the Charter; ministers for EU affairs gave an account of these actions, at the initiative of the Hungarian Presidency, at their meeting on 23 May 2011.

“I hope that this will set a precedent, and the Council, just like the Commission, will give an annual account of its steps taken to implement the Charter”, said Ms Gyori.

The Minister of State praised the achievements of its trio partners related to the regulation on the European citizen initiative, which was signed by János Martonyi in the European Parliament on 16 February.Ms Gyori highlighted the importance of the new institution, which allows citizens to initiate EU legislations form 1 January 2012 on.

In response to questions and comments by MEPs, Eniko Gyori thanked for the words praising the Hungarian Presidency for its work.

She also said that during the term of the Hungarian Presidency the institutions have learned how to coexist with the Lisbon Treaty, and stressed that there was excellent cooperation between the rotating Presidency and the Permanent President of the European Council, Herman von Rompuy.

Schengen: possible decision in September

On the enlargement of the Schengen Area, Eniko Gyori recalled that it was already known in December 2010 that Bulgaria and Romania will not join the Schengen Area under the term of the Hungarian Presidency.Yet, the Hungarian Presidency never gave up the fight, and did “a great amount” of background work to change the stance of “at least five member states”, which greatly opposed to the enlargement. The Minister of State considered it a “huge achievement” that the Home Affairs Council said: Bulgaria and Romania have met all technical conditions for accession. Eniko Gyori said chances are that a political decision will be made on the date of the Schengen enlargement in September.