"The time for Ukraine's EU membership has not yet come," the Prime Minister stated.Continue reading
Demographic challenges and competitiveness are among the priorities of the Hungarian EU Presidency, Judit Varga, Head of the Hungarian Parliament’s European Affairs Committee, stressed in a statement.
Judit Varga was attending a conference organized by the network of national parliamentary EU committee chairs (COSAC) in Namur, Belgium, where she presented the plans of the Hungarian EU Presidency that will start in July.
She stressed the importance of the EU enlargement issue for Hungary. Hungary concluded its association agreements with the EU thirty years ago. The Visegrad countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), joined in 2004, had to wait nearly four years before they could meaningfully open accession negotiations, and then it took another ten years for them to become members. She noted that the Western Balkan countries have been waiting for 20 years to become member states and that the merit-based principle should be applied to their accession.
We must avoid double standards and fast-track approaches to enlargement,”
she said. With this claim, Judit Varga was also referring to Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Ukraine applied to join the EU in February last year and was granted candidate status four months later.
Judit Varga also said that European election trends show that Europeans are strengthening the Hungarian opinion on key issues. “Change is needed and sovereign forces can be the catalyst for this. It is very important to turn Europe’s fortunes around by winning on the right, to stop the ideology-driven politics that currently dominates the EU institutions, and then we might recognize Europe in 50 years’ time,” the politician underlined.
Via MTI, Featured image: European Council
