“The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union has decided to accept and thus put before the European Parliament the proposal on the make-up of the new European Council, in which Hungarian candidate for the post of enlargement commissioner Olivér Várhelyi is also listed”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI from Brussels on Monday.

Mr. Szijjártó told the press that thanks to the decision of the Council, which is made up of the foreign ministers of EU member states, the failure of the efforts of the international pro-immigration forces that had been continuously attempting to prevent a candidate of the Hungarian government to fill the post of Commissioner for Enlargement is complete. “Thanks to this decision it has now become certain that the Hungarian commissioner will be able to fill one of the most important positions within the new European Commission, in view of the fact that the European Union’s enlargement policy is one of the most important policies, and is one of the most important fields with relation to the future of the European Union”, the Minister stated.

The new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen would have taken office on 1 November, but this had to be postponed because of the rejection of three candidates for commissioner by the European Parliament, the Hungarian, Romanian and French candidates. According to plan, the new Commission will begin work on 1 December.

The plenary session of the European Parliament will vote on the authorisation of the new European Commission on 27 November. Until the new body takes office, incumbent Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the existing members of the Commission have remained at their posts as executive officers.

(MTI)