Photo: Valery Sharifulin/TASS
BUDAPEST/BRUSSELS, 1 July. /TASS/. Hungary begins its six-month presidency of the European Council amid serious disagreements with the EU leadership on a number of issues, including the conflict in Ukraine and migration. It will replace Belgium on 1 July and hand over the presidency to Poland at the end of December.
The complicated relations between Budapest and Brussels are also reflected in the Presidency's motto: "Let's make Europe great again!", which is reminiscent of the election slogan of former US President Donald Trump, who does not enjoy the support of the EU leadership, but who is openly supported by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
When announcing the programme of the Hungarian presidency, Orbán said that a swift end to the conflict in Ukraine was his most important point. "We are committed to ending the war," the prime minister said, adding that the conflict in Ukraine still "casts a shadow over all developments in the EU".
These words contradict the statement of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who does not speak of ending the conflict, but of achieving victory for Ukraine at any cost.
Another important item on the agenda is EU enlargement. The Western Balkans has five official candidates for membership: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. Hungary believes that their accession will "give a new energy and a new impetus" that the EU so badly needs today.
Hungary, meanwhile, believes that the enlargement process does not tolerate double standards and that politicisation should be avoided on this issue. Therefore, Ukraine, which enjoys EU support in terms of the accession process, must meet the same criteria as all other candidates.
TASS/gnews.cz-roz
https://tass.com/world/1810577
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