Following lengthy but fruitful negotiations, Croatia joined the European Union on July 1st. Some 170 foreign leaders, including EC President Barroso and the President of the European Council, van Rompuy, took part in the celebration in Zagreb.
Following lengthy but fruitful negotiations, Croatia joined the European Union on July 1st. Some 170 foreign leaders, including EC President Barroso and the President of the European Council, van Rompuy, took part in the celebration in Zagreb.
EU finance ministers decided to endorse the European Commission’s recommendation of May 29 to abrogate the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) for Hungary. The country has been in the EU’s fiscal cuffs since its accession to the bloc in 2004.
Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi called for the preservation of the unity of the European Union at a roundtable meeting in Brussels. Hungary supports "more Europe" but clearly rejects "more than one Europe," he said.
Putting off accession to the euro-zone could harm the Hungarian economy, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn responded to a question by Edit Herczog, a Hungarian member of the European Parliament.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso indirectly stated to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on March 16 that Orbán lacks understanding of what democracy is. Papers in Western Europe quote from Orbán’s anti-EU speech.
European Union finance ministers adopted a Commission proposal to suspend Cohesion Fund commitments for Hungary from 2013, Margrethe Vestager, Danish Minister for Finance, told a press conference on Tuesday.
The European Council will be recommended within days to have some of the cohesion fund commitments for Hungary suspended as of 1 January 2013, bruxinfo reported, citing well-informed sources in Brussels.
The European Parliament will draw up a report on whether EU laws and values are respected in Hungary. It will then decide whether to activate EU Treaty Article 7, which is used to investigate a clear risk of a serious breach of EU common values.
Ensuring the independence of the central bank (NBH) and guaranteeing the normal functioning of the judiciary are preconditions for the start of formal talks with the IMF and the EU on financial assistance for Hungary, EU Commissioner László Andor says.
In a recent speech in Berlin, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called for deeper solidariity and much closer economic integration in the EU, including greater supervisory powers for the European Commission over national budgets.
EU member states’ Home Affairs Ministers will return to the issue of the Schengen accession of Bulgaria and Romania by the end of September. This was the unanimous decision made at the Home Affairs Council meeting on June 9 in Luxembourg.
Member States’ ministers for EU affairs have adopted the Council’s conclusions about the Danube Region Strategy. Hungary considers that the first part of the Presidency’s agenda has been reached and preparations can begin for the specific programs.
The member states of the European Union advocate sound budget policy. That was the conclusion observers drew from the two-day informal meeting of Economic and Finance Ministers (ECOFIN) in Hungary this past week-end.
Trust in the European Union is especially strong among Hungarians but very few believe the Hungarian economy will improve soon, a Eurobarometer survey conducted in November 2010 shows.
This Wednesday, Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi, and European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek signed the regulation on European Citizens’ Initiative under which any citizen is entitled to propose an EU law after 2012.
