The importance of family and children, and the inversion of unfavourable demographic trends in Europe, will be on the Hungarian Presidency’s agenda during the European week of popu-lation and family. This was opened with a special press conference at the Millenary Event Centre of Budapest, on 26 March 2011.
The Hungarian Presidency aims to initiate a Union level debate on Europe’s demographic and family issues. Before the relevant ministerial meeting, Miklós Soltész, State Secretary for Social, Family and Youth Affairs of the Ministry for National Resources, also sought the opinion of non-governmental organisations on the matter in Budapest, on 17 March.
It was the first time that the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council held a meeting in Brussels during the Hungarian EU Presidency. The meeting focused on the role of education in achieving the objectives set by the community for the period till 2020. Said meeting was presided over by Rózsa Hoffman, state secretary responsible for education of the Ministry of National Resources of Hungary.
On 15 February Dr. Miklós Szócska, state secretary responsible for health policy, held a meeting for the leading officers of health institutions and background institutions financed by the state. One of the focuses of the discussion was the issue of the announcement of jobs published in the Health Gazette last Friday.
On the occasion of the World Marriage Day, Miklós Soltész, state secretary responsible for social, family and youth affairs of the Ministry of National Resources, delivered, during a ceremony, the first commemorative plaquette “Together” to a young couple just married. The ceremonial event was also attended by Balázs Bús, mayor of Óbuda.
Géza Szőcs, state secretary responsible for culture, visited Berlin at the weekend, where he attended several meetings during the period of the film festival. On Sunday, 13 February, he carried on discussions with his German colleague, Bernd Neumann, federal minister of culture, on strengthening the Hungarian-German cultural relations, with special regard to movies and digitalization.
On 9 February 2011 the state secretary responsible for sports of the Ministry of National Resources informed civil organizations of the sports policy efforts of the Hungarian Presidency.
The member states of the European Union should act together to create sustainable pensions systems, Miklós Réthely, said, in an interview to eu2011.hu. The Minister for National Resources talked about the challenges posed by ageing European society; and the special social policy priorities of the presidency, before the meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health, and Consumer Affairs Council, on 7 March.
Involving youth in decision-making and improving youth employment, were the focus of the Hungarian Presidency’s most important event on youth policy. At the conference held in Gödöllő, on 2 March 2011, European youth held meetings with the directors-general of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and representatives of the European Commission.
The Hungarian Presidency wants member states to adopt the “Resolution on a European Work plan for Sport” by May. This was announced by State Minister for Sports of the Ministry of National Resources, Attila Czene, on 22 February, after the annual Sports Forum organised by the Commission in Budapest.