Europe is facing very serious problems, such as migration, economic development and the enlargement of the European Union. At the same time, the European Commission would withdraw funds from EU policies which have their contractual purposes, Szabolcs Takács, Minister of State for EU Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office told the Hungarian news agency MTI on Wednesday in Zagreb.

The politician attended a conference on the topic organised by Croatia which currently holds the presidency of the Central European Initiative.

The Member States of the regional organisation discussed the draft of the EU’s budget for the period between 2021-2027. The Minister of State indicated that there are major changes taking place in the EU, new players are emerging in the internal political affairs of a great many countries, and European parliamentary elections will be held in May next year. In his view, these circumstances determine what the realistic time frame should be for negotiating the EU’s next budget.

He highlighted that Hungary and other Central European countries as well as the Baltic States find that the European Commission’s proposals give rise to concern as they would withdraw funds on an unjustifiably large scale from an EU policy which is one of the EU’s most important investment policies and which has its own contractual purpose and goal. This goal is to enable the less advanced Member States to reach the average of the EU, and to meet their convergence objectives, he pointed out.

Hungary believes that there are new challenges such as the management of the migration crisis, social problems such as unemployment, the high rate of unemployment among young people and the deterioration of competitiveness, and the problem of rising to the challenges of the digital era, and funds should be allocated to the management of each of these problems in the new budget, Mr Takács explained. According to the Hungarian position, these funds should not be taken away from the cohesion policy because this would weaken a policy which has proved to be successful in the past few decades, he added.

Regarding the future of the EU, he found it important to point out at the conference that funds should be allocated in the budget for the integration of the Western Balkans countries. In the case of Serbia and Montenegro the target date is 2025, and it is important to emphasise this also for the countries concerned. The EU must convey positive messages to the Western Balkans, he underlined.

The Minister of State also had bilateral talks with Gabrijela Zalac, Croatian Minister for Regional Development and EU Funds.

Mr Takács indicated that Hungary has a vested interest in further strengthening the Central European region. “By Central Europe we do not only mean the Visegrád Four, but the entire region extending from the Adriatic to the North Sea”, he said.

He took the view that this region is bound to succeed if it pursues the right policy.

This region must be constructed and connected together in terms of infrastructure and energy supply, and its stability and physical security, in other words, the protection of the borders, must be guaranteed, he highlighted.

In the context of border protection, they also spoke about the pressure of migration that is weighing upon the Croatian-Bosnian border.

The Hungarian politician asked Croatia to support the development of a migration policy in the EU which is based on the protection of the borders, rather than an approach focusing on the mandatory distribution of illegal migrants.

From 1 July Austria will take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and there is a good chance that, with the new Austrian and Italian governments as well as with partners in the region, a reasonable migration policy may be adopted, the Minister of State said.

(MTI)