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Good evening.
I will speak Hungarian if you don’t mind. So I am here because for the last six months Hungary has held the rotating Presidency of the Council. First of all, I would like to thank Ursula von der Leyen for the excellent cooperation we had with her and the Commission. We were able to put aside all political debates in order to move forward on important issues. I also thank António Costa for his cooperation – although during the bulk of the work the President of the Council was not him but Charles Michel, whom I would also like to thank for his cooperation, because he did a lot to achieve success.
In what position did we begin the Presidency, and where are we now? In the last six months there have been unprecedented security challenges: there is war in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in Africa, and there is the constant threat of escalation. Illegal migration and its consequences threaten to paralyse and tear apart the Schengen Area. The economic figures show that the European Union is losing its global competitiveness and that we are falling ever further behind our main economic competitors. Meanwhile, other global players have ambitious plans and grand strategies: some want to stay big, while others want to become big again. So we decided that we would run a political Presidency. You know, there are two options: you can either run a bureaucratic Presidency or a political one. If you run a bureaucratic one, you basically see it as important to make progress on the usual matters. If you see that political decisions are necessary, you create a political Presidency. I was lucky, because this was not my first Presidency. I knew the ins and outs of things and the two options open to us, as I had already presided over a Presidency once – ten or so years ago; so this second one was much easier, and I dared to take on a Presidency of a political nature. We have put a lot of work into these six months. The best people in the entire Hungarian state apparatus worked on moving matters forward.
As far as the most important political issue – the war in Ukraine – is concerned, there was essentially no room for manoeuvre. This was because there is no consensus within the European Union, and if there is no consensus you cannot act on behalf of the European Council. So everything that could be done related to the war had to be done not within the framework of the Presidency, but independently of it – let us say within the framework of bilateral diplomacy. As you know, we did a great deal. Even at present, there is a proposal on the table for a Christmas ceasefire, which we did not submit within the framework of the Presidency.
On the issue of competitiveness, as the President of the Commission has said, the Budapest Declaration deserves recognition as a historic document. This is because it calls for revolutionary simplification, it envisages affordable energy, it envisages support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and it sets deadlines for these tasks – with the European Council charged with overseeing progress. This is the point we have come to in terms of competitiveness. For those of you who are interested in the organisational and technical details, we have also prepared a written summary. It has an annex, consisting of fifty or so points, which I can show you now. This indicates how many EU policies need to be amended if we want to become competitive, and shows that making Europe competitive will be a rather complicated and difficult process.
An important aspect of our Presidency was that, for the first time in the history of the Union, ministers responsible for demographic challenges met to discuss Europe’s demographic future.
I will not repeat everything that President Ursula von der Leyen has said, but we have made progress on enlargement policy on the Western Balkans, on issues that have been blocked for a long time. It was possible to start negotiations with Albania, and we held three intergovernmental conferences. And with Serbia we are within reach of organising an intergovernmental conference. This type of progress has not been made for two and a half years.
As the President mentioned, a decision was taken on the Schengen membership of Bulgaria and Romania. This had been on the agenda for thirteen years, but could not be taken to the finalisation stage because of the resistance of one country or another, or several countries together. We spent six months negotiating with various countries who had previously opposed enlargement, in order to see what conditions were necessary to allow these two countries – which were prepared and eligible for Schengen membership – to receive what was due to them. And so this will happen on 1 January.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this was the first time – the Hungarian Presidency was the first time – that the twenty-seven agriculture ministers managed to come to an agreement on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy. So we have managed to reach an agreement between the agriculture ministers of all twenty-seven states on the Common Agricultural Policy after 2027.
And finally I think it is important that we have managed to finalise a declaration on promoting Jewish life and combating anti-Semitism, with a declaration underlining that anti-Semitism in the European Union is at an alarmingly high level, and that we have a shared responsibility to do everything we can to reduce it.
All in all, I can say that the last six months have confirmed my opinion that the only possible way for the European Union to succeed – or indeed to survive – is for it to be ambitious, to be great, to make the commitment to do great things. Therefore it is my wish that the subsequent presidencies will be able to take these important big decisions in order – because the motto of our Presidency was not a joke – for us to be great again: Let’s Make Europe Great Again. This is the only path towards competitiveness and survival.
Thank you very much for your attention.
