We are cautiously optimistic that with the entry into office of the new European Commission there will be change on the continent, Fidesz-KDNP Member of European Parliament József Szájer said on Monday in Budapest.

At the conference entitled ‘Europe & Union – A struggle of 70 years between federalists and sovereignists – Who will have the last laugh?’ organised by the Centre for Fundamental Rights, Mr Szájer described the fact that Olivér Várhelyi has been elected as commissioner for neighbourhood policy and enlargement as a major success.

Enlargement will be a strategic sector of the next five years, and Hungary has been given just that portfolio. This is the first time we have managed such a feat in the history of the European Union, he said.

The MEP expressed hope that with the entry into office of the new European Commission, the EU will cautiously return to realities; in his view, so far the Commission “has functioned as an ideological weapon”.

In addition to the German-French axis, the Visegrád Four (V4: Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia), too, have become factors, Mr Szájer stressed, adding that the EU’s economic centre of gravity is beginning to shift.

He took the view that in the future tensions between “immigrant societies” and states that reject migration will intensify further. The V4 fall into the latter category, he said.

Mr Szájer indicated that in recent years the EU has crossed the boundaries of the principle of equality, and started punishing certain Member States. A kind of colonial way of thinking has begun to prevail.

He highlighted that the V4 are especially sensitive to hierarchy because their populations were deprived of their national independence for a long time.

The MEP said from the rule of force and pressure we must return to equality and cooperation, and in some affairs Member States must not be deprived of their right of veto.

At the conference, Justice Minister Judit Varga stressed that a national orientation does not rule out European orientation. No one can accuse Hungary of not being pro-European, she added.

She said all that federalists had achieved in seventy years was that the EU had regard for everyone, except for Europeans. It offers individual rights, but calls no one to account over collective obligations. What we can do is to show that there is an alternative, even if that goes against the mainstream, she said.

Mrs Varga said the European Commission must abandon political activism; among others, it must stop using infringement procedures as a weapon. She added that laws should be streamlined, not extended.

The Minister highlighted that we must preserve European achievements, but to do so we are lacking most in sincerity. In political culture, a spade is ever more infrequently called a spade.

István Kovács, Strategic Director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights stressed that Europe is an identity which is based on Christianity, but it is equally based on affiliation with small communities and nation states. Recently, however, this unity has been upset, primarily in Western Europe, and even nation states are in danger, he said.

According to Tamás Fricz, research advisor of the Centre for Fundamental Rights, in the past few years, two visions have evolved regarding the future of the EU. The camp of federalists takes the view that the best solution to a crisis is an ever-closer union, the development of a United States of Europe in which central power would be exercised. By contrast, sovereignists believe in an EU that relies on the robust national independence of Member States, and take the view that the conditions for common governance do not exist.

Today the European Union is a kind of “hybrid”, a mixture of the two concepts, but it is clearly tending towards federalism, Mr Fricz said, adding that the other camp is also gaining in strength, with special regard to the V4.

The research advisor took the view that the federalist concept is unfounded and unfeasible; turning the EU into “a superstate” is a dead-end street.

During a roundtable discussion moderated by István Pócza, senior analyst of the Centre for Fundamental Rights, Tibor Navracsics, former member of the European Commission responsible for education, culture, youth policy and sports affairs whose mandate terminated a few days ago, said the federalist-sovereignist debate misguides the dialogue about the EU. Hungary is, for instance, an ardent federalist regarding the issue of agricultural policy, he said.

He took the view that those Member States are successful which are able to define and advocate their interests, and in the vast majority of cases Hungary is unable to do that.

In every instance, national interests must take priority. A Member State cannot afford the luxury of adopting only a federalist or only a sovereignist attitude, Mr Navracsics stated.

Szabolcs Takács, ministerial commissioner for Brexit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they respect the decision of the British people, but are not happy to see Britain leave the EU. With their departure not only the EU is weakened, but so is the sovereignist position.

At the roundtable discussion, József Horváth, security policy advisor of the Centre for Fundamental Rights said from a security point of view the EU “has slept through” the past ten years, has failed to notice that the environment around it has changed fundamentally. In the EU there are no world political great powers any more as the Member States which represent major economic power have no significant military power to speak of, he said.

In conclusion, Miklós Szánthó, Director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights stressed that Hungarian interests stand above all. Hungary is a proud and strong member of the European Union which is part of the European integration and has no intention of leaving, he added.

(MTI)