Hungary takes over EU presidency after creation of new far-right alliance

Budapest/Vienna, July 2 (IANS) Hungary has taken over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) for six months, with its focus on enhancing EU competitiveness.
On Sunday, the day before Hungary started its EU presidency, Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced in Vienna the creation of “Patriots for Europe,” a new far-right alliance, in the European Parliament as reported by Xinhua news agency.He presented the alliance with Herbert Kickl, leader of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), and Andrej Babis, leader of the main Czech opposition party Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO).Orban said the alliance, comprising his right-wing populist Fidesz party, FPOe, and ANO, would soon become the “largest group of the European right”. Yet it would need to attract lawmakers from at least four other EU member states to form a group in the European Parliament.Austrian broadcaster ORF raised the question of how the National Rally (RN) of the French right-wing populist Marine Le Pen and Germany’s AfD party would react to the new alliance. The RN and AfD were recently excluded from the right-wing Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament.On Monday, Hungary’s European Union Affairs Minister Janos Boka outlined the seven top priorities during Hungary’s presidency, including enhancing the EU competitiveness, reinforcing European defence policy, EU enlargement, stemming illegal migration, shaping the future of a cohesion policy, formulating a farmer-oriented EU agricultural policy and addressing European demographic challenges.Boka said these priorities reflect the will of European voters, stressing that the recent European parliamentary elections sent a clear political message that “Europe needs change”.The Minister stressed EU competitiveness and European security and defence policy in particular. “Strengthening Europe’s peace and security are of paramount importance,” Boka added.The motto of Hungary’s EU Presidency is “Make Europe Great Again”.Zoltan Kiszelly, Director of the Center of Political Analyses at Hungary’s Szazadveg Institute, told Xinhua that the central European country is expected to play a significant role in setting the agenda and topics for meetings and negotiations due in the coming months.–IANSint/khz