In his opening lecture at the Pro Integratione 2013 conference on Friday, Foreign Minister János Martonyi declared that the system of European integration must be operated within a strict and well-defined legal framework, and if we confuse legal matters with political-ideological debates, then we endanger the operation of the entire system.

János Martonyi pointed out that during the course of deepening our European integration certain principles, such as complying with the Treaties, must be inviolable, the transparency of EU institutions must be preserved, and there must be legal guarantees that ensure the rule of law on a European level.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister stressed that the advantages of Hungary’s EU membership compensate by far the disadvantages of membership. He claimed that the European Union had been confronted with three dilemmas; first the balance between political and economic union. János Martonyi said that political union is much more complicated and sensitive than economic union, and the former lags behind the latter.

The second dilemma is that the EU institutional framework is becoming increasingly complex and unfathomable, and the problem that needs to be addressed here is the growing distance between European institutions and citizens. The third dilemma is EU enlargement, for an organization that originally had six member states will soon have 28-30 members. This makes the decision-making process more cumbersome and increases the social, economic and political differences within the Union itself.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)