EU Advisory Committee Outlined Plan to Prevent Hungary From Assuming EU Presidency
Jose Nino
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An independent advisory body within the European Union’s governing structure is drawing up a detailed plan on how to bar Hungary from assuming the presidency of the European Union slated for the second half of 2024, Hungarian outlet Magyar Nemzet reported.
The Meijers Committee, a Dutch-based body made up of legal professionals that gives advice to the European Union on reviewing legislative proposals, crafted several recommendations, based on which the European Parliament could bar a member state from assuming the political union’s rotating presidency.
This cabal of experts put forward three different scenarios at the joint committee meeting of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), and the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO). At this meeting, the experts sketched out the possibilities of getting rid of or restricting the rotating presidency.
The presidency program is jointly crafted by the three countries succeeding each other at the top of the European Council. In this instance, those countries would be Spain, Belgium, and Hungary. The Meijers Committee’s first proposal consisted of the three member states coming to an agreement on which country is tasked with chairing which meetings, above all, where rule-of-law matters are talked about. In essence, this proposal would restrain the Hungarian presidency, as it is going through rule-of-law proceedings.
On top of that, experts have also called for changing the order of the rotating presidencies. According to Magyar Nemzet, this has occurred several times previously. However, it never happened against the will of a country that is already facing political pressure from EU leadership.
The third proposal consists of the European Parliament adopting a resolution establishing the conditions under which a member state may be barred from holding the presidency.
During a Hungarian government press conference held on July 27, which took place following the weekly cabinet meeting, Cabinet Minister Gergely Gulyás declared that “there is no realistic chance that the Hungarian EU Presidency will not take place.”
Overall, this is just another scheme being hatched by Eurocrats to punish Hungary for its policy deviancy on a host of issues. Namely, Hungary’s commitment to national sovereignty, immigration restriction, and traditional values. These policies obviously irk Eurocrats.
In addition, Hungary’s foreign policy realism on the issue of the Russo-Ukrainian War and its balanced foreign policy with China is not making it friends either.
Overall, one can expect Hungary to continue to be harassed by Eurocrats as it charts its own policy course. Hopefully, the Orbanites recognizes this harsh reality and begins taking measures to defend itself from foreign interference.
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