| The General Affairs Council and the Foreign Affairs Council held their first sessions under the Spanish presidency on January 25, 2010. Péter Balázs represented the Hungarian government at these two forums. At the General Affairs Council session the Spanish Presidency presented its working programme and its priorities in a public debate. In the first half of 2010 Spain will have the task of creating the practical implementation for new institutional rules stipulated by the Lisbon Treaty. It is also their task to provide guidelines for implementation required by the Treaty and to clear up any remaining issues, such as working out the details of the establishment and operation of the European External Action Service and the European civil initiative, as well as accession of the European Union to the European Charter on protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Spanish Presidency is to harmonise the gradual phasing out of Member States’ crisis-management programme, too. A further priority for the Spanish Presidency is to approve the post-Lisbon Strategy (EU-2020) which sets out to boost economic growth and employment. In addition it wishes to work on European financial supervisory reform in the interest of creating responsible and reliable financial markets. The Spanish Presidency plans to strengthen the global role of the European Union, considering it necessary to create a community with a unified voice and potency to act together. The principle of bringing the citizens closer to EU institutions is also highlighted; the presidency is committed to fully observing the principles of equality, security and solidarity. The Spanish Presidency plans to hold ten summits with third countries in the first half of 2010. At the General Affairs Council meeting the European Commission and Member States’ representatives – taking the floor – called the Spanish Presidency’s working programme ambitious and pledged their support. Among the tasks ahead they characterised as important the EU-2020 strategy, the medium and long-term economic stability, the next financial perspectives, job creation and the fight against climate change. Energy security, focus on citizenship and filling the Eastern Partnership Programme with content were in the limelight of the contributions. Several participating ministers emphasised that the political role of the General Affairs Council should be strengthened and filled with new content based on the Lisbon Treaty. Many of them objected to the absence of Herman Van Rompuy, the permanent president of the European Council, from the meeting as well as the fact that the General Affairs Council did not get a role in preparing the informal summit to be held on February 11. The majority of participants voiced the need for dialogue and cohesion between institutions, and the importance of consistency and transparency. Foreign Minister Péter Balázs pledged support for the Spanish Presidency’s working programme as the one which shed light on the tasks and challenges facing Member States and which should have an outstanding role in implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. It is the common responsibility of the Member States – he added – to voice the importance of the General Affairs Council, as this is the forum responsible for preparing and keeping abreast of the European Council’s meetings as well as running profound debates on horizontal issues affecting several areas. The head of Hungarian diplomacy called the attention of Member States to a Danube summit in preparation of the EU Danube Region Strategy to be held in Budapest on February 24 and 25. The heads of government of the 14 affected countries are to be invited. The Spanish Presidency and the affected countries welcomed the Hungarian initiative, which would give added value to the process. Romania expressed hope that the Danube Region Strategy would be approved in March 2011. Slovakia noted that the Budapest summit would be followed by a conference organised jointly by Slovakia and Austria. In line with the stipulations of the Lisbon Treaty, the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council was chaired not by the foreign minister of the rotating presidency but the EU’s newly appointed high representative for foreign and security policy, Catherine Ashton. The meeting’s agenda included the situation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (with especial attention to the future of the EUFOR-Althea operation) as well as Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iran. The ministers reviewed the crisis after the earthquakes in Haiti and, at Poland’s initiative, Ukraine was mentioned, too. On the subject of Haiti, participants unanimously accepted the idea that not soldiers but police were needed to help restore order and distribute aid. An additional problem, on top of the human tragedies and the enormous financial damage, is the fact that the state has collapsed, too. The ministers agreed to send – as a kind temporary contribution – 300 police officers to reinforce the UN mission in Haiti. In addition, an operative group will be set up in Brussels with the task of coordinating military and civil support pledged by Member States. The foreign ministers welcomed that the first round of the Ukrainian presidential elections had been completed without disruptions and democratic candidates were competing. In his address concerning Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mr Balázs recalled that over the past months Hungary had given home to several high-level events with the participation of political leaders from the Western Balkans and that he himself had visited Bosnia in December. He pointed out the next elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina should steer the country towards Europe. It is a must to put the divisions generated by the outdated Dayton Accords of 1995 behind us. The elections, however pose a new challenge of further deepening divisions, whereas the opposite would be in the interest of both the Bosnian communities and the outer world. The European Union must act, too: a situation where the elections get diverted by nationalist extremists from the three local ethnic groups should be prevented. Mr Balázs agreed with the Council’s decision not to drawdown units of the EUFOR-Althea mission until the elections. He added that Hungary supports the Austrian-Greek initiative which states that all Western Balkan countries should become EU members by 2014. The Foreign Affairs Council session also decided on launching a European Union training mission for soldiers in Somalia. The Union joins the training of the African country’s armed forces under the framework of the international fight against terrorism. Hungary is providing a staff officer and six instructors for this new programme. In connection with Afghanistan the ministers exchanged views on what stance to promote at a London conference in the second half of the week. The ceremonial opening of the new building of the Hungarian Permanent Representation in Brussels took place during the Council session. Mr Balázs unveiled a plaque of the Permanent Representation.  In his short ceremonial speech, the Foreign Minister recalled that they had moved into the original building of the Hungarian representation six years ago, before Hungary acceded to the European Union.
The new office building from this year serves the preparations of the Hungarian EU Presidency in the first half of 2011. The number of diplomats in the Hungarian Permanent Representation will double for the time of the presidency: a staff of 100 is enough for standard procedure but nearly 200 people are necessary to fulfil the presidency’s goals. Some 80 of them will work in the building now unveiled. The building is being rented in a central location, in close proximity to the old headquarters and EU institutions.
(January 25, 2010) |