Only Member States sincerely and bravely standing up for their own national interests can constitute a European community that will also be successful in the long run as “without strong nations Europe itself can only remain weak,” the Justice Minister stated at a forum held at the National University of Public Service on Thursday.

At the opening ceremony of the career programme entitled ‘Nations of Europe’ organised jointly by the National University of Public Service and the Ministry of Justice, Judit Varga said “we would like a Europe that truly respects our national identity and intellectual sovereignty, the diversity of our opinions and […] the will of the Hungarian people”.

Therefore, the Minister said it is essential to create an apparatus of Hungarian experts which believes in the future of a Europe that is based on the close cooperation of nation states and a sovereign Hungary.

She said the purpose of the career programme is to train as many experts representing Hungary firmly and effectively as possible, and for these experts to obtain senior positions within the institutions of the European Union in the largest possible numbers.

Ms. Varga recalled that the goal of the founders of the EU was – learning from the mistakes of history – to forge European countries into an alliance which “guarantees peace, security and advancement for a long time”.

Their decision, she added, determined the future of the whole of Europe, and laid the foundations for the present “unprecedentedly long-lasting peaceful period”.

However, the Minister also highlighted that “we do have plenty of conflicts” which are no longer fought in the trenches, but at negotiating tables.

She added that a Central European spectator sometimes has the impression that “some of our friends” have forgotten that Europe should be about the exploitation of common opportunities, not about the weakening of nations.

Stressing the importance of national sovereignty, she also said Hungary enriches Europe with its past of more than a thousand years, specific language, culture and identity, constitutional traditions and the special intellectual abilities of the Hungarian people.

“It is this diversity that Article 4(2) of the Treaty of the European Union, too, designates as a value to be protected,” she pointed out.

Also referring to her own working experience of ten years in Brussels, Ms. Varga said it is important that as part of the training programmes such experts should prepare young people for work at the EU who themselves have extensive experience in the areas of EU policies and diplomacy.

In his closing remarks, Programme Director Gergely Prőhle highlighted that the career training addresses a long overdue debt. He stated at the same time that Hungary’s EU membership is partly an emotional and partly “a fully rational” commitment. He said the purpose of the training is to make Hungary’s EU membership fruitful for everyone.

The Europe of Nations Career Programme is a training course organised jointly by the National University of Public Service and the Ministry of Justice. During the six-month programme, attendees are prepared for public service in Europe. Fifty-one of the 161 applicants gained admission to the programme.

(MTI/Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister)