EU Affairs Minister: “Hungary aims to strengthen the EU’s competitiveness during its presidency”

The central priority of Hungary’s EU Presidency will be to strengthen the EU’s global competitiveness, the EU Affairs Minister said on Wednesday, during his closing speech of a conference organized by the Association for Hungarian Youth without Borders in Budapest.

János Bóka said that Hungary also wants to show what and how the European Union’s institutions should be doing. He said that instead of intolerance, a culture of dialogue and tolerance should be created, and forms of cooperation should be developed that have real added value, make Member States stronger together, and aim to strengthen rather than dismantle their capabilities.

In his speech, the Minister noted that

in the context of strengthening global competitiveness, Hungary intends to address the dysfunctions of the European internal market and industrial policy issues.

Competition rules, international trade policy, and energy and raw materials supply also need to be reviewed, he added. He noted that demographic issues should also be addressed, as they also have an impact on competitiveness.

Bóka pointed out that

cohesion policy also contributes to improving competitiveness, as the catching-up of regions has an impact on the competitiveness of the entire EU.

The Hungarian Presidency will also address migration issues, focusing on the protection of the EU’s external borders, the Minister Boka said. He added that they would also like to see “some innovative solutions” on the agenda. On migration, the government would like to see closer European cooperation in the fight against organized crime and terrorism.

The Hungarian government also hopes to make real progress in the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area, he said, noting that this has been “unduly long in coming.” On EU enlargement, he stressed that they were committed to the accession of the Western Balkan countries.

We want all the candidate countries in the Western Balkans to take at least one step towards membership,”

he stressed. He added that the Hungarian Presidency would also like to contribute to the establishment of an EU-Western Balkans meeting. Furthermore, the values of national minorities would be put on the agenda in the field of cultural heritage protection, Bóka stressed.

Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Lakatos Péter