DrHungary will hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the next six months. The Budapest government has decided to use its presidency to strengthen the EU’s economic competitiveness. To boost growth, they want to adopt a new agreement, the government announced when it took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union on Monday. In addition, they must better combat illegal immigration – including through agreements with third countries.
The EU presidency rotates among the 27 member states every six months. Hungarian government representatives will chair several ministerial meetings until the end of December, and mediate disputes between EU countries.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is known for his critical stance on the European Union. In the past, he has repeatedly clashed with other member states and obstructed important votes. Most recently, especially with support for Ukraine, which is under attack from Russia, and sanctions imposed on Moscow.
He added: “The presidency does not mean that you are the president of Europe. Outgoing Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo recently told his colleague in Budapest in Brussels: “The presidency means that you are the one who has to present the settlement.” Belgium has previously held the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Budapest wants to 'make Europe great again’
How much Orbán will accept this is questionable. Ukraine will continue to play a key role for the EU in the coming weeks and months – both in terms of providing further aid, but also in the country’s ongoing accession talks. EU heads of state and government recently agreed that Europe needs to become less militarized and significantly strengthen its arms industry. It is now up to Hungary to step up these efforts.
The right-wing nationalist Hungarian government had previously made headlines with its slogan for the Council presidency: “Make Europe Great Again” – a modified campaign slogan of controversial former US President Donald Trump. In German, the proverb means something like “Make Europe great again.”
In the past, Orbán and Trump have repeatedly praised each other. It was only in March that Orbán praised Trump as the “peace president” at a meeting, while the American in turn praised the Hungarian president as the “best leader” ever.
It remains to be seen exactly what this leadership will look like with regard to the Council presidency. But ultimately, the power of the Council Presidency is also limited: legislative proposals come from the EU Commission. The drafting of the legal texts is then finally negotiated by the EU countries and Parliament. In addition, now – three weeks after the European elections – neither the Commission nor Parliament are fully operational. Many important positions still need to be filled. Therefore, it is not expected that many new legislative initiatives will be launched at this stage.
Urban He forms a right-wing party alliance with the AfD as an aspirant
But Orban also wants to expand his influence in the EU Parliament. One day before assuming the presidency of the Council, Orban announced the creation of a new far-right faction in Parliament. The „Patriots for Europe” group includes the ruling Fidesz party in Hungary, the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party, and the populist Czech liberal Ano party. The alliance is open to other parties committed to the “National Statement” signed by the leaders of the three parties in Vienna on Sunday.
With the hoped-for influx, Orbán said, the group would become “the largest faction of right-wing forces in Europe.” Their manifesto contains positions familiar to right-wing, right-wing populist and far-right parties: rejection of immigration and the “Green Deal,” no support for Ukraine under attack from Russia, and dismantling EU integration in order to strengthen the sovereignty of nation states.
The three parties received the largest number of votes in the EU elections in their respective countries. Fidesz has eleven representatives in the new European Parliament, ANO has seven representatives, and FPÖ has six representatives. In total, they have 24 out of 705 representatives on the EU body. It takes at least 23 representatives from seven countries to form a parliamentary group.
In terms of substance, there are many points of contact, especially between Fidesz and the Austrian Freedom Party, with the AfD, which was excluded from the right-wing Identitarian faction shortly before the European elections. On the sidelines of the AfD’s federal party conference in Essen, AfD leader Tino Chrupala did not want to comment on Orbán’s plans when asked on Sunday.
However, AfD MEP Mark Jungen expressed his opinion positively to Deutschlandfunk. „So if it were up to me, we would also be happy to join this group” and his party could „sign the national manifesto” „immediately”. In terms of content, they are „very close to Orbán” and are working on „establishing a formal cooperation in the future”.
