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GAC: Hungary proposed to discuss transparency and regularity of NGO funding
At the February General Affairs Council, the transparency in contracts between the European Commission and NGOs was placed on the agenda at the initiative of Hungary.
EU Affairs Minister János Bóka said after the meeting that he expressed doubts about the transparency of current legislation and institutional practice. He also suggested two courses of action: the Council could ask for direct access to these contracts, or the Commission could work with other institutions to provide greater access.
He explained that currently the basic details of the contracts–the contracting parties, the amount of the grant and the general objective–are available on the internet, but it is not clear exactly what activities the parties have committed themselves to. Individuals, Member States and institutions can request access to these contracts, but the European Commission made it clear at Tuesday's meeting that it does not consider itself legally obliged to make them public in full detail.
"Among the intervening Member States, some expressed support for this initiative. Some expressed satisfaction with the practice of the Commission so far. I look forward to a professional and political debate in the Council in this respect in the coming weeks and months," he added.
"Hungary's objective remains to achieve similar transparency in EU funding, in the same way that the United States has made public information on its support to NGOs," he said.
Hungary does not support EU counter-tariffs against American products
Hungary does not support EU counter-tariffs against American products, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said after a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday.
"What we certainly do not support is a trade war and a tariff war with the United States. We do not want high tariffs, we want low tariffs," said Szijjarto according to statement by his ministry.
"We expect the European Commission to negotiate, but not about imposing new tariffs, not about even higher tariffs, but about how to reduce tariffs for trade between the United States and the European Union," he added.
Szijjarto said Hungary does not support EU counter-tariffs because they would make American imported products more expensive, meaning they would cause significant price increases for people on the continent. If the list compiled by the EC were accepted, it would immediately mean a price increase of HUF 18bn in Hungary, he added.
Szijjarto said that it has become clear that several member states share a similar position to Hungary.
"It would have been possible to conduct substantive negotiations with the American administration for months, to put serious proposals on the table of the American administration months ago, and to reach an agreement based on them," said Szijjarto.
The minister said the EU should have reduced import tariffs on the US auto industry from the current 10pc to 2.5pc, so everything that happened could have been avoided.
Szijjarto also mentioned the future of European-Chinese trade cooperation, reiterating that the current leadership of the EC is unfit for its task, as evidenced by the tariffs imposed on the Chinese electric car industry. He called these a good example of how "an ideologically driven economic policy measure" can cause enormous damage.
Brussels announces new pro-Ukraine war initiatives
The European Commission has announced new pro-Ukraine war initiatives involving "even more money, weapons and military advisors" being sent to Ukraine, Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister, said after an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.
The plan is to increase the value of arms shipped to Ukraine to 40 billion euros this year, Szijjarto told a press conference.
This includes voluntary fast aid of 2 million rounds of ammunition costing five billion euros, he said, adding that the aid cannot be mandatory because Hungary has blocked the EU from making such transfers as official policy.
He noted that Hungary has steered clear of sending military advisors to Kyiv as the government's position is that such a mission should only operate outside Ukrainian territory, otherwise there would be a serious risk of the war escalating in Europe's direction. "This is a red line for us," he said.
Regarding a new package of sanctions against Russia, the 17th, there were demands that it should be "massive and very robust", Szijjarto said. His Ukrainian counterpart had even "demanded" restrictions on Russian energy purchases and the nuclear industry, he added.
"We won't accept this at all," he said, noting ongoing direct negotiations between the US and Russia and it was not the time to put Russian government members on the sanctions list.
While "some people here" wanted to restrict the movement of Russian diplomats within the EU, talks between the US and Russian were under way to restore the operations of diplomatic missions, he added.
Meanwhile, the minister said moves were afoot to open all chapters of the Ukrainian accession negotiations this year. Moreover, an EU commissioner raised "the hair-raising idea" of fully integrating Ukraine economically before it joins the bloc, he added.
"Hungary wants peace, not war," he said, adding that support stated for a ceasefire was merely rhetorical as "this massive package of proposals" in effect underpinned the "failed pro-war policy of the past three years". The package would "bring danger" to Europe and Hungary, so Hungary rejects it, he added.
Szijjarto said all EU member states "and Brussels" were putting Hungary under strong pressure to allow Ukraine's rapid accession to the bloc.
"So today they wanted us to give in," regardless of the fact that the rights of the Hungarian national community "are being violated in Ukraine".
"I made clear that only the Hungarian people can decide on this issue ... [and they can do so] in the referendum in April and May."
Szijjarto also appealed to "every Hungarian" to make their views clear on the matter of Ukraine's EU membership on the X platform.