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.

European Union foreign ministers on Monday discussed how to finance infrastructure needed for joining up the bloc's energy networks to form a single energy market. The meeting was chaired by Hungarian foreign minister János Martonyi.

It is sometimes a widely shared belief that the country fulfilling the presidency of the EU can pursue its own interests. Nothing can be farther from the truth - says international relations expert Tamás Magyarics in article for Diplomacy & Trade.

All economic priorities of the Hungarian presidency serve to strengthen the position of the European Union, Hungarian Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy said at an EP committee hearing in Brussels on Monday.

In the framework of the Hungarian EU Presidency, European Union interior ministers met in Gödöllõ near Budapest on Thursday to discuss current trends in internal security and ways to enhance practical cooperation in the fight against organised crime.

The European Union in 2011 will face the most difficult year for the past two decades. This view was expressed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

The popularity of the European Union has increased in Hungary with 46 percent of people stating in early January that Hungary's accession has been beneficial to the country as against 38 percent last July. The figures are quoted from a survey by Szonda Ipsos.

Former Foreign Minister of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajèák has been appointed as the head of department at the External Action Service of the European Union on a territory that is of significant importance for Hungary and its EU Presidency.

The European Union's '2011 European Year of Volunteering' program series was opened this past week-end in Budapest by the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding

In July this year, the European Union saw the start of the second half of its current seven-year budgetary period (2007-2013). Overall, Hungary has access to about HUF 4,000 billion (EUR 14.4 bn) left until 2013.

In the presence of the EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Belgium's federal Secretary of State for Social Affairs, the European Year of Volunteering 2011 was launched in Brussels.

Addressing a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it was favourable that Hungary and then Poland will be EU president in 2011, a year when a revival from the global crisis may start.