Hungary calls for stronger nation-state sovereignty in the EU, rejects treaty changes for political power shift

The purpose of European integration is not to abandon national self-determination and independence but to strengthen nation-states, Barna Pál Zsigmond, a government official, said at a meeting of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC) in Budapest on Monday.

The EU is lagging behind its global competitors, and the Hungarian EU presidency wants to promote higher productivity and growth in the bloc, Pál Zsigmond Barna, parliamentary state secretary of EU affairs, said.

Priorities enumerated by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán include adopting a new European competitiveness pact, fortifying defence policy and running a merit-based enlargement policy. Hungary also wants to curb illegal migration, introduce a farmer-centric EU agricultural policy and address demographic challenges, he said.

“Twenty years ago, we felt Hungary’s EU membership was a historic success based on a national consensus, and notwithstanding current difficulties, we still feel the same today,” he said. “But now it’s more and more the case that a centralised and politicised institutional system is spreading over member states.”

He said Brussels bodies were clinching powers at the expense of nation-states and national parliaments, combining this with ideological pressure. He further slammed the European Commission for becoming more and more politicised. He argued that geopolitical challenges should not be an excuse for the commission to go it alone or “launch campaigns against individual member states citing common values”.

There is no need for urgent amendments to EU treaties, he said, adding that more important priorities were policymaking and budget issues. The official also noted areas requiring unanimous decision-making that impinged on “vital national interests”, arguing against expanding the scope of qualified majority decision-making.

Maros Sefcovic, the leader of the EU Green Deal, Sven Simon, chairman of the EP constitutional committee, Alessandro Giglio Vigna, head of the EU affairs committee of the Italian House of Representatives, also addressed the event.

Zsigmond said the majority of national parliaments also held the position of the Hungarian parliament that “sovereignty is based on nation-states”. There was no need, he added, to change the treaties for Europe to function better or for the enlargement to take place, he said.

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