Hungary’s European affairs minister: Hungarian EU presidency ‘to listen to Europeans’

A task of the Hungarian EU presidency is to ensure that “the voice of European citizens is heard” and considered in decision making, János Bóka, the European affairs minister, told a conference of EU affairs committees of the community’s parliaments in Budapest on Monday.

Hungarian EU presidency

Bóka said the message of the recent European parliamentary elections was that “Europeans expect the EU to yield more and better,” adding that “if we pretend that European policy making could go on in the usual way, we would let down our fellow citizens and betray their hopes and expectations.”

The minister called for a “new agreement on European competitiveness” and said improving the productivity and competitiveness of the community as a whole and its members was crucial.

Strengthening Europe’s defence policy is another important objective, Bóka said, adding that the EU “should take a greater role in ensuring its own security through increasing its resilience and capacity to act.”

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