Hongaarse premier: voorzitterschap bereikt 98 procent van doelstellingen (en)

“We have accomplished 98 percent of what we had set as our objectives,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán² said, during his evaluation of the Hungarian Presidency’s performance in Brussels, at the 23-24 June 2011 meeting of the European Council. The heads of state and government of the EU have already made an economic decision in the first day of their meeting.

The Hungarian Presidency took a large part in the EU’s fight against the economic crisis: for the first time, it has launched and managed the EU’s new economic coordination mechanism, the so-called European Semester; and concerning the matter of the package of six legislative proposals aimed at reform of economic governance, it has brought a political agreement equally acceptable for the European Parliament (EP) and to Member States within reach.

In the press conference, closing the first day of the Union summit, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy³ announced that the European semester has been closed. “We endorsed the recommendations of the Commission to the Member States, without -- and I insist -- without watering them down,” Mr Van Rompuy said.

This means that the Hungarian Presidency have managed to close the debates in time, in the Council on the country-specific recommendations: these were discussed bythe social and employment ministers and financial ministers, during their meetings on 17 June and 20 June, respectively.

Van Rompuy urges the EP

“We have taken the matter of economic governance close to the breakthrough point”, the Hungarian Prime Minister said, prior to the EU Summit, referring to the Presidency’s results in the inter-institutional trialogues, conducted about the package of six legislative proposals.

On behalf of the Council, the Hungarian Presidency has conducted intensive inter-institutional three-party negotiations, the so called “trialogues”, with the EP and the European Commission, since the end of April. After the last round on 15-16 June, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council discussed the Presidency’s new compromise proposals and modified its general approach, and also making further concessions to the Parliament. It was communicated to the EP in a letter sent on 21 June. Nevertheless, the EP’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee decided that the Parliament would vote on the package that was agreed during the latest trialogue, rather than the Council’s newest proposal, on Thursday 23 June. The EP claimed it had received the Council’s last amendments too late.

Although on 23 June the EP voted in favour for the six proposals in this form, the final vote meant that the adoption of the entire package was still postponed to the plenary meetings, which is to be held on 4-7 July. This way, it remains possible to still submit draft amendments to the statutes.

The President of the European Council sent the following message to the EP in the press conference: “The better should not be the enemy of the good,” and urged the legislators to close this matter as soon as possible.

During their meetings, heads of state and government have endorsed the amended text on the European Financial Stability Facility⁴ and the treaty text of the European Stability Mechanism.

Concerning the Greek crisis⁵, the European Council called on the Greek Parliament to adopt the key laws on the fiscal strategy, and to finalise privatization as a matter of urgency, in the coming days. According to the adopted conclusions, this will form the basis for setting up the main parameters of a new programme, jointly supported by its European partners and the IMF⁶. This will allow Greece to meet its financing needs in July.

In his statement prior to the meeting, Viktor Orbán declared that one of the outcomes of the 24 June meeting, will be a very spectacular success of the Presidency: EU heads of state and government will complete the accession negotiations with Croatia. Also, the Roma strategy and the Danube region strategy will receive endorsement at the summit.