Hungarian Conservative

‘Family policy will remain of utmost importance to us, as part of our overarching priority of demography during our presidency. It is clear that all of our societies are being reshaped by the challenges of demographic change. The Hungarian Presidency intends to examine demography from the perspective of competitiveness in a holistic way by including it in the agenda of almost all council formations,’ State Secretary responsible for families at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation Ágnes Hornung told Hungarian Conservative in a recent interview.

Hungary begins its six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July during a period of extraordinary circumstances and challenges. During its presidency, Hungary aims to focus on seven priorities to answer the EU’s most pressing economic, security, and social issues.

The European Parliament is trying to do everything in its power to politicise and ideologise the disagreements between the EU institutions and the Hungarian government. The MEPs attacking Hungary seem to be forgetting what the role assigned to them in the treaties is, and instead of fulfilling their role of EU co-legislators, they pretend that they are sitting on the opposition benches of the Hungarian parliament.

While officially, the conference’s main agenda point was the shadow rapporteurs on the current state of the rule of law in Hungary, more time was devoted to Hungary’s Council of the EU presidency set to happen in 2024, a concept none of the MEPs was thrilled about. The ongoing negotiations about releasing the frozen EU funds were often talked about as well.