Government: Hungary will do everything for EU enlargement

dHungary is “doing everything in its power” during its rotating presidency of the European Union to speed up the bloc’s enlargement and “will give every assistance to Moldova so that it can join the community as soon as possible,” Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Chisinau on Friday.

At a press conference held jointly with his Moldovan counterpart Mihai Popsoi, Szijjártó referred to the current security challenges and “extreme economic hardships”, and said “an emerging new world order will not facilitate the strenghtening of the EU”.

Enlarging the community could “lend new momentum and energy … new ambitions” to the community. Among Hungary’s efforts to help Moldova in its endeavours to join the EU, the minister mentioned a training opportunity at the Hungarian Diplomatic Academy for 50 Moldovan officials who could then “have a key role in the accession talks”.

He added that the first group of 32 Moldovans were expected to arrive next week, to attend courses in the areas of municipal government, tax policy, and agriculture regime.

Szijjártó also said that candidates for EU membership should be evaluated on an individual basis, adding that “we will never approve of a candidate’s progress being impeded by another country … if we did so, weaker or slower candidates could restrain their better-performing peers.”

“We will provide every assistance that the European Commission screening now underway be completed as soon as possible and that the actual accession talks should start,” Szijjártó said.

The minister slammed “Brussels hypocrisy” and said that “most EU members will support enlargement in public, but many will argue against it behind closed doors.”

“A pro-enlargement presidency’s top priority is to make things clear and encourage everybody to reflect honestly on the subject, and make those who are supportive in public also provide substantive support,” he said.

Touching upon the strategic partnership between Hungary and Moldova, signed in 2020, Szijjártó said bilateral trade hit new records in 2023, having increased by two and a half times over the past 10 years.

Szijjártó calls for sincere communication, end to ‘deception’, on EU enlargement

Northern and western European, and Baltic states, should “finally put an end to deception” and talk sincerely about the issue of European Union enlargement, Szijjártó said.

The ministry cited Szijjártó telling a joint press conference with North Macedonian counterpart Timcho Mucunski that both countries attached great significance to bilateral cooperation, especially in the current period characterised by severe challenges facing the continent, when “it appears the EU has not found the correct responses to difficulties”.

“Had we found them, Europe would not be ailing,” he said.

“We believe the current situation is proof that it is high time for the European Union to return to politics based on common sense and to accept that Europe cannot be stable if there is no stability in its direct neighbourhood, therefore dialogue must be enhanced with the EU’s neighbours,” he added.

“And they must finally understand in Brussels and in the western and eastern Europe, and Baltic capitals that the European Union indeed needs the Western Balkans, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the EU now needs the Western Balkans more than the other way round,” he said.

The EU needs new energy which can come from the Western Balkans, because the ambitions and rapid development of states in the region could generate the impetus that the bloc currently lacks, he added. Szijjártó said there was “huge hypocrisy” in the EU when it came to enlargement, with everybody making supportive public statements but behind closed doors, the majority of people forming a disapproving position.

Had it not been the case, North Macedonia would not be in the underserved situation of being a candidate country for nineteen years, and accession talks still not starting, he said. Szijjártó said the government would make every effort for an intergovernmental conference to be organised with North Macedonia before the end of the Hungarian EU presidency which would enable opening the first chapters of accession talks.

“Additionally, we are calling on the European Commission to start payments due for the development of North Macedonia under the arrangements of the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans,” he said. He added that the government in Skopje had fulfilled all the necessary conditions and the transfer of EU resources “are not always without political prejudice, and not always done in line with objective conditions”.

He expressed thanks to Western Balkan leaders for a joint letter they sent to support Oliver Varhelyi, asking for the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement to be allowed to continue his work. He said bilateral trade between North Macedonia and Hungary grew five-fold in recent years, adding that “Hungary’s government will continue to support domestic companies to carry out investments in North Macedonia in strategic areas”.

Szijjártó said the sides had confirmed their commitment to stop illegal migration which posed a fundamental threat to the security of the Western Balkans.

EU affairs minister: Hungary EU presidency represents change

Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union aims to represent and promote change in the EU, thereby also working in the interest of Hungary’s success, János Bóka, the EU affairs minister, said at the plenary session of the 62nd Itinerant Conference of Economists in Nyiregyháza, in north-eastern Hungary, on Friday.

“The European Union is changing, and it should,” the minister said, arguing that as an EU member Hungary had a vested interest in the bloc’s success. Bóka said there was broad support for EU membership in Hungary just as there had been 20 years ago when the country joined the bloc, adding that there was no alternative to EU membership. He said Hungary was bound to Europe both culturally and historically.

“Our place is in Europe and in the EU,” he said, adding that Europeanness formed an integral part of modern Hungarian identity. Hungary’s security, he said, could only be guaranteed if the country was part of a strong defence community, one of whose pillars was NATO and the other the EU.

He said that with Hungary’s open and export-oriented economy, it was “inconceivable” to achieve growth and development goals without an unlimited access to the common market. Bóka said there were no disagreements on Hungary’s EU membership within the government. EU membership, he added, did not mean “the end of history”, because as the world continues to change, so must relations.

Turning to the priorities of the Hungarian presidency, he mentioned the EU’s competitiveness. He said that whereas in 1992 the EU had accounted for more than 21 percent of the global economy, by 2022 this had shrunk to 14.8 percent.

He said that to restore competitiveness it was critical to address demographic challenges, including guaranteeing a skilled workforce in the most important sectors, and ensuring the European economy’s access to raw materials and affordable energy. Europe’s capital market, he said, lagged behind that of the United States in terms of development, and this led to a competitive disadvantage.

Bóka called the EU’s post-pandemic Resilience and Recovery Facility (RRF) the “biggest failure of recent years”, arguing that its implementation had been too drawn out and slow, and its administrative burdens were too high. The implementation of the green transition, he added, could also be considered a failure because it was still impossible to tell what kinds of financial resources the “road to climate neutrality” required and what its economic effects would be.

The Hungarian presidency considers it a priority to adopt a new competitiveness pact focused on industrial transition, the management of labour and demographic problems, investment in innovation and skills as well as the renewal of funding, Bóka said. He said the EU’s competitiveness would be a main topic at the Nov 8 informal summit of EU leaders in Budapest.

Meanwhile, Bóka underlined the importance of developing the EU’s cohesion policy in a way that guarantees that it is capable of helping less developed regions catch up with the rest of the bloc. He noted that the EU is set to begin planning its next multi-year budget during the Hungarian presidency.

He said plans were to shift financing from traditional policies to new policies that boost competitiveness. He said this would also mean that the EU would finance policies that favour member states with a higher level of development, which would leave fewer resources available in terms of real value, and access to them would be even more closely linked to the fulfilment of the political criteria set by the European Commission. The minister said it was also important for the Hungarian presidency to achieve “tangible results” on EU enlargement.

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