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Hungary will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union this year. The experts at the Ministry of Finance have prepared for a key task of the Hungarian presidency: the preparation of the EU budget for 2025, said Mihály Varga, Minister of Finance, after receiving Thomas Westphal, Director General of the Council of the European Union, at his office.
Minister Varga stressed that during the Hungarian presidency, answers must be found to increase the competitiveness of the European Union. He said that the EU was steadily losing competitiveness to global competitors, a process that had accelerated during the pandemic and the war.
The Hungarian EU Presidency will therefore put a strong emphasis on European competitiveness to narrow the growth and innovation gap between the EU and its competitors.”
Mihály Varga added: “We want to pay particular attention to demographic issues, which could fundamentally determine the future of the continent, and reversing the negative demographic trends is one of the biggest challenges today. This is why the government is committed to supporting families: the Hungarian family support system is successful, and the Hungarian family support rate is the highest in the European Union in relation to GDP.”
Varga noted that Hungary’s position is that the EU should assume greater responsibility for Europe’s security, increase defense spending, and strengthen border protection. In addition to the ongoing armed conflicts, migration pressure is also gradually increasing, which should not be managed but stopped, and the EU’s role in this should be increased, he emphasized. The parties also discussed the reform of the customs union with the creation of a new EU customs authority and data center under the Hungarian presidency, which could respond to the new challenges of e-commerce, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
Via MTI, Featured image: Pixabay