Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the Schengen area and Croatia membership of the European Union are among the top priorities of the incoming Hungarian EU Presidency, government officials told EurActiv in Budapest ahead of the executive's official visit to the European Commission on Wednesday. Hungary will assume the EU presidency for their first time in January 2011. Budapest is keen to do well, especially on EU enlargement, which could impact upon the sizeable Hungarian minorities who live beyond national borders.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will meet the College of European Commissioners on Wednesday with his eight-member government. It will be the first meeting during which he will present Hungary's priorities for its presidency of the EU.
The enlargement of the European Union to Croatia is another key topic for Budapest. Hungary shares a long border with Croatia and is set to significantly benefit from the country's accession to the EU.
Discussions are ongoing and Croatia has closed most of the 35 negotiating chapters which represent a precondition to EU membership. However, there is still work to be done, notably to avoid political opposition from certain member states.
Hungary is already intensifying its contacts with the Netherlands, which is traditionally sceptical about enlargement to former Yugoslav countries. Moreover, "it is paramount that all relevant decisions are made before the French presidential elections," stressed a Hungarian official. The risk of political interference would be considered high if no clear agreement were reached ahead of France's elections, scheduled for April 2012. Budapest hopes to be able to close all negotiating chapters with Zagreb by the end of its presidency in mid-2011. The June European Council could then be used to decide Croatia's accession date, likely to be 2013. Hungary is also keen to make progress towards full EU membership for Montenegro (which may obtain official candidate status in early 2011, if not before) and Macedonia. The official opening of negotiations has been put on hold by a dispute with Greece over the country's name.
News source: EurActiv link: article
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