The consensus on the package of six legislative proposals aimed at creating common economic governance reached at the Council meeting at the end of March, the progress associated with the future of cohesion policy, the Common Agricultural Policy, energy policy, the Roma strategy and the Danube Region strategy – these can be considered as the greatest achievements during the first three months of the Hungarian EU Presidency. Following you can read a short mid-term review of the professional achievements.

• Composing the programme of the Hungarian EU Presidency has proved to be successful. It received support from all sides and we managed to focus member states’ attention on the most topical issues. The first three months have justified that Hungary had prepared properly to perform presidential duties efficiently, and the Presidency staff is doing a responsible and conscientious job. The Hungarian EU Presidency has achieved most of the goals as envisaged. We progress as scheduled!
• There have been unexpected events in Japan and the Southern neighbourhood, which the Hungarian Presidency had to deal with in a way to avoid risking the original program of the Presidency. If necessary we acted quickly in all matters within the competence of the Presidency and cooperated with the competent organizations. (The Presidency activated the EU’s civil protection mechanism in respect of Libya and Japan. The Hungarian embassy in Tripoli represents the EU, coordinates between member states and reports to the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Several sanctions have been adopted against Libya with the Hungarian Presidency taking the lead. We immediately reacted to the EU’s exposure to potential immigration and put the threat on the agenda of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. Foreign Minister János Martonyi and Minister of State for EU Affairs Enikő Győri visited the region. We have undertaken to organize a preparatory session for the ASEM ministerial meeting.)
• Brussels considered it a great success and the proof of competence of the Hungarian Presidency that the Council reached consensus on the package of six legislative proposals aimed at creating common economic governance at its meeting at the end of March. The Council has also made a decision on amending the EU’s constitutional treaty, which was necessary to create a permanent mechanism for crisis management.
• A full theoretical consensus was reached on the details of the stability mechanism to be launched in June 2013. According to our declared priority, the promotion of a strong Europe today primarily depends on the efficiency of crisis management and the stabilization of the Euro Zone. By keeping the issue sharply in focus, we have facilitated finding solutions and helped the matter receive attention.
• We can consider it a success that in the first three months of our Presidency, we managed to keep to the original tight schedule of the European Semester, which was also approved by the Council.
• Based on the Council’s decision, significant progress has been made in the priority fields of energy strategy and energetic infrastructure. It is highly important that the EU is determined to create a single and integrated energy market by 2014, which guarantees the unrestricted flow of gas and electricity and gives higher energy security to member states, including Hungary. The Hungarian Presidency summoned an extraordinary meeting of the Energy Council without delay in the wake of the events of North Africa and the earth quakes in Japan.
• The enhanced cooperation in the field of the unitary patent is also a great success. This historic step, which promotes the expansion of the internal market, was taken during the Hungarian Presidency. With 25 member states participating, the March meeting of the Competitiveness Council gave new momentum to the process of creating a unitary patent, which had been stalled for a long time.
• Another result is the consensus in theoretical matters associated with the future of cohesion policy which was laid down in the conclusions adopted by the General Affairs Council on 21 February. Cohesion policy must remain a strong and integrated instrument of development policy in the future and it also play an outstanding role in the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy with the proviso that the original objectives – bridging regional gaps – should be respected.
• Competent agricultural ministers discussed the Council’s position on the post-2013 future of the Common Agricultural Policy on 17 March. The Agricultural Council adopted conclusions with a qualified majority on one of the key priorities of the Hungarian Presidency. It also committed itself to a strong CAP which is in harmony with the values of Hungarian agriculture and rural development.
• The fact that we invited all candidate states to the so-called informal Council meetings in Hungary showed our commitment to the EU enlargement and was warmly welcome. We firmly support closing Croatia’s accession negotiations within our Presidency’s term. This will convey a positive message to the entire West Balkan region. Accession is possible if a single country fulfils required conditions. We also handle the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area an important issue.
• We can report progress concerning the EU’s internal security strategy, the execution of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and the protection of personal data. There has been a very useful debate at informal meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on the gradual removal of barriers of EU citizenship in Gödöllő. A visa exemption agreement between the EU and Brazil was adopted, and there has been considerable progress in the Council on the issue of the long pending repatriation agreement between the EU and Turkey.
• Our ambition is that events unfolding in the Arab world shall not fully distract attention and resources from the Eastern Partnership. Although the Eastern Partnership Summit, which was originally planned to take place in Hungary in May, has been postponed to the term of the Polish Presidency, it will be prepared with the active participation of Hungary and will be co-hosted by Hungary.
• We consider the issues of Roma strategy and Danube Region Strategy as priorities. Member states backed the Hungarian Presidency’s schedule for the adoption of the Roma strategy. As for the Danube Strategy, participating countries agreed on the control of the eleven action fields, which is a milestone in launching the strategy. Hungary will control three action fields of the Danube Region Strategy in international cooperation: the Sustainable Energy Chapter (jointly with the Czech Republic), the Water Quality Maintenance and Water Management Chapter (jointly with Slovakia) and the Environment Risks Management Chapter (jointly with Romania).
• During the short period that has lapsed of the Hungarian presidential term, we made progress in several fields directly affecting the everyday life of citizens. These fields include the signing of the regulation which provides for the European Citizens’ Initiative in detail, or the approval of the legislation on patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare. Legislation has been adopted by European Parliament on the prevention of the entry of falsified drugs into the legal supply chain and the restriction of CO2 emission of light commercial vehicles and is pending the Council approval. A political agreement has been reached on the food-related information of consumers. Moreover, we can mention the amendment of the regulation on the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport, the progress concerning the cross-border enforcement of traffic safety regulations and the continuation of the negotiations over the EU regulation on cross-border inheritance.
• During the term of the Hungarian Presidency, member states reached unanimous political consensus on the supervision of the directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment. This is highly important because the preceding four presidencies failed to achieve this. The draft legislation aims to establish reusing and recycling proportions for waste electrical and electronic equipment, so as to contribute to environment protection and promote resource-efficacy.
• We consider it as a very important achievement of the Hungarian Presidency that the EPSCO adopted a decision on 7 March on the expansion of the timeline of the European Pact for Gender Equality to 2020, which shows the member states’ commitment to this issue.
• Research ministers unanimously adopted conclusions on the “active and healthy aging” project in the Competitiveness Council’s meeting on 9 March, which enables the Commission to make an exceptional launch.
• Youth employment and education were discussed at several meetings. Education ministers had a meaningful debate on how education can contribute to the success of Europe 2020 Strategy by reducing the number of school drop outs and increasing the number of higher education students. At the informal meeting of sports ministers held in Hungary, an important discussion took place on funding sports, anti-doping activity and the future objectives of the EU’s sports policy.
• The Competitiveness Council managed to adopt conclusions in relation to the Services Directive at its meeting on 10 March.
• Having adopted a decision on the aviation security agreement, the EU and the USA exchanged diplomatic notes on its conclusion. In March we also signed the agreement on civil aviation research and development between the EU and the USA.
• We have also facilitated the approval of the Mercury Strategy by consensus in the Environment Council.
• In the past three months, the Hungarian Presidency has successfully represented the EU in several meetings of international organizations.
• We promised that the Hungarian Presidency will be an “honest broker” and a “diligent shepherd”; it will promote taking joint pan-European decisions and contribute to finding compromises. In the first half of our Presidency’s term, we have kept our promises.

(kormany.hu)