Conference of EU speakers – Europe in crisis, says Hungary’s house speaker

Brussels, May 24 (MTI) – Parliamentary speakers of member state of the European Union agreed at a two-day conference in Luxembourg that the bloc is in “a state of crisis”, Hungarian house speaker László Kövér said on Tuesday.

“Confidence in the EU is thinning among its citizens,” Kövér told MTI. He argued this was demonstrated by the upcoming Brexit referendum and the recent Dutch vote on Ukraine’s association agreement.

CONFERENCE OF EU HOUSE SPEAKERS – MIGRANT RESETTLEMENT MUST BE VOLUNTARY, SAYS KÖVÉR

Kövér also noted that in Austria’s recent presidential election nearly 50 percent voted for the far right, while candidates of the ruling parties did not even make it to the second round of the vote.

“All this shows that the EU has a huge deficit of confidence, which can be attributed to mishandling the migrant crisis,” Kövér said.

Concerning the meeting’s closing document, Kövér said it was an attempt “to find an answer to questions dividing Europe”. The Luxembourg presidency’s answer had been an attempt to promote deeper political integration, but the closing document now reflects diverse positions, he said. Countries in the Visegrad cooperation stressed their opinion that mandatory quotas are unacceptable, Kövér said, adding that several other countries had voiced “very similar views”.

Kövér also said that parliaments of “the nation states” agreed to cooperate more closely to “represent a more efficient stance against Brussels and the institutions of the European Union”.

“Concerning Europe’s future, the majority of parliamentary leaders do not support Brussels centralising efforts,” he insisted.

Kövér is scheduled to continue his talks in London.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters