Hungary will have the most pro-enlargement EU presidency in its history, where the focus will be on the real results of accession negotiations, not political pressure, the business minister said on Tuesday Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó in Brussels.
At a press conference after the EU-Georgia Association Council meeting, Minister Szijjártó said that the Hungarian Presidency will be the most pro-accession Presidency ever, when each country will be judged on its own performance in the accession process. “We will focus on real results in the accession negotiations”, and not on responding to political pressure from external actors,” he stressed.
The politician also stressed that during the Hungarian presidency they wanted to keep the accession process grounded in reality and set reasonable expectations for the candidate countries. As an example, he said that before accession, a given country cannot be expected to adhere one hundred percent to the EU’s foreign and security policy, because the realities regional factors must also be taken into account.
Minister Szijjártó stated that
Hungary would like to help Serbia open new membership chapters in the second half of this year, for Montenegro to close several chapters and for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Moldova to start real, substantive negotiations.”
He added: “Hungary wants a strong Europe, a strong European Union, and the strength of the European Union lies in two aspects. On the one hand, the strong Member States themselves (…), on the other, the momentum, dynamism and freshness of the newcomers.”
He stressed that in the current situation the EU needs the new members at least as much, and perhaps even more than the other way around, but the problem is that all this has not yet been achieved. On the latter point, he criticized the bloc’s “duplicity”, saying that all member states are very supportive of enlargement policy in public, but behind closed doors the situation is different. “Some EU countries and their leaders have constantly put artificial obstacles in the accession process. This is clearly a case of double standards,” Szijjártó stressed.
A common understanding of the lack of progress in Serbia’s EU integration is that the country’s strong historical ties with Russia could be a source of disagreement within the European approach to the conflict in Ukraine. The Serbian government’s national-conservative profile, as well as its support for Kosovo’s Serb minority, are also a point of contention with Brussels. Viktor Orbán’s government has long argued that these issues should not hinder Serbia’s European ambitions.
Via MTI, featured image: Pixabay
