Minister of State for EU Affairs Enikő Győri has been decorated with the French National Order of the Legion of Honor by Ambassador Roland Galharague of France in Budapest June 13, 2013. Ms. Győri delivered the following remarks after receiving the award.

Ambassador Galharague, Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honor to receive the National Order of the Legion of Honor. The first words should be those of gratitude to the French Republic, to all those in France who have found me worthy of this prestigious award.

Orders like this are conferred for merits. In my case, if there are any merits involved, then they are certainly shared. The success of the first EU Presidency of Hungary was due to the dedication and efforts of many in my, but not only in my country. There is however one gentleman in France who deserves particular credit for the common success: Mr. Laurent Wauquiez, then minister of state for European affairs. I would like to ask you, Mr. Ambassador, to convey him my best personal regards and gratitude. He was one of the first among our European partners to understand and appreciate those priority goals of the Hungarian Presidency that others found unrealistic at best and secured French support for them in critical moments. Those issues included the closure of accession negotiations with Croatia and the endorsement of a European Roma Strategy, among others. As to the first, skeptics kept telling us that it was not customary, almost not politically correct to set a target date in the EU. As to the second, naysayers would point out that Roma issues are social policy and therefore a matter of national competence: why bother the EU? But in the person of Mr. Wauquiez France was listening to us and understood.

The Hungarian EU Presidency thus owes much to France and I personally to him. Our two countries became close partners in the EU. At the end of our term Mr. Wauqiez said: ‘With the Hungarian presidency, the distinction between ‘old’ and ‘new’ member states has definitively lost any meaning’.

That statement had a significance which goes well beyond Hungary. It was the expression of a credo, a vision of an EU without divisions, double standards and second class membership.

Our vision of the European Union has not changed since 2011. We still believe – as the presidency slogan said – in a strong Europe, where strong and equal members states and capable institutions cooperate, in the maximum respect of the treaties, in the spirit of solidarity and the mutual recognition of one another’s identity and constitutional traditions. I am afraid and a bit deceived that we are now farther away from the realization of this vision than we were two years ago.

I become member of the legion d’honneur for my role in the Hungarian EU Presidency during the first semester of 2011. We worked together with France to promote the common European cause. Because there is, after all, a common European cause beyond the otherwise legitimate interests of the member states.

When I looked at the list of those Hungarians who have received the order of the legion d’honneur, I was filled with awe. Kosztolányi Dezső, Bartók Béla, Alexander Lámfalussy – just to mention three of the most famous. I do not claim to share their greatness. But I have a belief and ambition in common with them: it is possible for anyone to serve his or her own country in friendship also with others. This is an ideal to which I want to remain true; so France may always have a friend in me.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)