Hungarian minister Bóka: Strong Hungarian representation in EP important

Strong Hungarian representation in the new European parliament and cooperation between Hungarian MEPs from various countries on strategic issues is important, the minister for European Union affairs said in Bucharest on Wednesday, after meeting the top candidates of the ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party.

After meeting Gyula Winkler, Lóránt Vincze and Dóra Szilágyi, who head RMDSZ’s list for the EP elections, János Bóka said the past five years had been “fundamentally a period of failures” for the EU. The bloc had stumbled on tackling crises such as loss of competitiveness, the ongoing migration crisis, and weaknesses of its defence capabilities and agricultural policy, he said.

Hungarian MEPs had been cooperating on issues such as the representation of indigenous national minorities and linguistic communities in the EU, Bóka said, while initiatives such as Minority Safepack “brought no breakthrough” in the past cycle, hopes were now high that “common sense will prevail in the EU in the next cycle,” he said.

Bóka said Hungary would also work to expand EU regulations on big game, as they currently failed to tackle problems experienced in Transylvania.

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