Keresés: %s

The Minister stressed that the uncontrolled and massive influx of illegal migrants bears great security and economic risks. Hungary has been stressing this from the very beginning, and has in return received “intense criticism from the governments which now want to create a “mini-Schengen zone”.

He also emphasized that it is rather offensive that now it is exactly these countries “that wish to create an internal circle for themselves”. Whereas Hungary is the only country that respects Schengen regulations and ensures that that only people respecting common EU regulations can enter Hungary and thus the Schengen zone, he said.

According to the Minister, countries which are now thinking of creating this internal circle, have up until now been arguing for open borders and have been talking about the positive effects of this uncontrolled influx.

Mr. Szijjártó pointed out that if the Schengen zone were to be disintegrated, which if the current “hypocrite European immigration policy” stays intact might soon occur, that would lead to severe economic damages in Hungary and in Central Europe. He was of the opinion that in this case, the production schedule of local companies would immediately become unpredictable, production capacities would start degrading, which eventually would lead to massive job cuts and layoffs.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)

This moment can be considered a milestone regarding the decade-long partnership of the ESA and Hungary. As a full member country of the ESA, Hungary will take an active part in shaping the future of European space operations– stated Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Director–General of the European Space Agency at the accession ceremony. The host of the event, Ambassador György Károlyi added – The openness, the scientific and industrial achievements of the ESA constitute a guarantee for a well-established cooperation for Hungary.

The Hungarian Parliament adopted the three laws required for the publication of the international agreement in October unanimously. Finally, full membership entered into force in early November when the Instrument of Accession ratified by János Áder, President of Hungary, was deposited with the French Government.

The official ESA membership places the national space industry onto new foundations, which is already achieving great success on the global high-tech market. The ESA, now having 22 members with the accession of Hungary, manage large-scale projects, which none of the member states would be able to accomplish alone. Hungary concluded 125 contracts with the organisation in the last 12 years as a cooperative member state of the ESA. More than fifty domestic small and medium-sized enterprises, research institutes and universities participate in ESA projects, and almost 100 instruments developed by Hungarians have entered space. Their achievements are utilised in vital areas determining international competitiveness, such as satellite earth observation, medicine, and navigation applications. Full membership makes possible the involvement and industrial supply of Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises, universities and academic research institutes in the projects. It increases employment and helps to convince highly-skilled teams of professionals to stay in Hungary.

 

(Ministry of National Development)

“The Conclusion has a balanced Governance Framework which reflects important principles for Hungary and the other V4 countries alike and will lead to the successful implementation of the Energy Union. The Council Conclusion takes into account the different capabilities and specificities of the Member States and will serve as a basis for the establishment of a flexible Governance System” said András Aradszki, State Secretary of Energy Affairs who had represented Hungary at the Council meeting.

In his statement he also called for more room of manoeuvre for Members States concerning the schedule and reasonable timeframe for the preparation of the National Plans. 

Furthermore, the Energy Council held a policy debate on the “New Energy Market Design” and the “Delivering a New Deal for Energy Consumers” Commission communications. The related legislative proposals based on the public consultations with market participants and Member States are expected to be released during the second half of 2016.

The EU aim is to empower consumers with new technologies and help them to be able to take advantage of innovative services, manage their consumption and participate actively in the market as energy producers. “Concerning regulated prices Hungary’s position remained unchanged: taking into account the economic and social specificities of the country, regulated prices shall be maintained” said the State Secretary.

More information about Energy Union can be reached here.

Minister Trócsányi said that Hungary has credible arguments against the quota system and expressed his hope that other Member States will also back Hungary in its legal challenge. Never before has the ECJ had to handle a case like this, the Minister said. "It is a matter of principle because it would set a dangerous precedent if there were other cases of the EU imposing regulations with a majority vote rather than consensus," Mr. Trócsanyi explained.

The Minister pointed out that at the end of June, the debate around migrants ended with the approval of a system based on voluntary acceptance by Member States, under which Hungary would not have had to take in migrants. A few months later, however, EU Interior Ministers took advantage of the fact that decisions approved by their council do not require unanimous consent and went against the earlier decision of the European Council. The Ministers adopted a resolution obliging Member States to each take in thousands of migrants, Minister Trócsányi said, emphasising that Member States' national sovereignty should guarantee them the right to decide who they admit into their territory.

Mr. Trócsányi noted that earlier this month, the National Assembly instructed the Government to turn to the ECJ over the quota scheme and request that the Court annul the resolution on the redistribution of 120,000 asylum seekers among EU Member States.

On another subject, the Minister said that despite the Constitutional Court's decision to axe parts of the law on compensation for investors of failed brokerage Quaestor earlier this month, the Government will fulfil its promise to compensate victims. He said that the earlier law governing a top-up fund set up to help Quaestor clients just needs to be "fine-tuned".

 

(Ministry of Justice)

The stake of 2015 Paris climate summit is enormous. The goal of this year’s climate conference is to reach a new global, ambitious, preferably legally binding agreement in which all countries of the world make pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to shift to low carbon economy in the long run. The main objective is to keep the global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius, avoiding the threating weather events of climate change. The new climate agreement would enter into force as of 2020. However if happening, it will be seen in the next 2 weeks.

The world leaders event was held on the first day of the climate conference where President François Hollande and Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius as the hosts of COP21 welcomed 150 heads of state and government. At this occasion President János Áder took also the floor emphasizing the urgency to act regarding climate change. The high level segment will be held during the second week of the climate summit where ministers could deliver speech on fighting climate change. Minister of State András Aradszki from the Ministry of National Development will represent Hungary at this event.

More information on the on-going international climate talks can be read at the following links:
http://ec.europa.eu/clima/events/articles/0107_en.htm
http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/
http://unfccc.int/meetings/paris_nov_2015/meeting/8926.php

The Council also discussed the Single Market Strategy which was presented by the European Commission on 28 October 2015 to deliver a deeper and fairer Single Market that will benefit both consumers and businesses. There was wide support for the Strategy. Hungary also welcomed the Single Market Strategy and agreed, inter alia, that unjustified geo-blocking and discriminative behaviour against consumers must be addressed. In this regard, Hungary underlined the importance it attaches to the broadcasting rights and the ability of the European consumers to watch the sport events in their mother tongue from outside the territory of the broadcaster in question.

During the working lunch delegations had a discussion on the Better Regulation package with Vice-President Timmermans. Participants agreed that regulation has to be made more transparent, simple and efficient. While all members supported the work on the REFIT program, a number of delegations would also like to see quantified targets within the program.

Member States’ opinions were less favourable regarding the Commission’s proposal for the establishment of National Competitiveness Boards (within the euro area), as they questioned the necessity and added value of another new institution. The Commission also informed Members on the state of play of the implementing measures to introduce real driving emissions (RDE) tests for cars. The Commission (supported by a number of delegation, including Hungary) argued that the new measures strike a good balance between environmental aspects and technical feasibility in the short run.

The second day of the Competitiveness Council dealt with research items. The Council adopted conclusions on research integrity, on advancing gender equality in the European Research Area (ERA) and on the review of the ERA advisory structure.

As main agenda point the ministers exchanged views on the European Investment Plan, more specifically on how to make the best possible use of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) to stimulate research and innovation.

Vice-President Jyrki Katainen emphasized that the aim of EFSI is to stimulate and support job creation, long-term growth, and competitiveness. The EFSI therefore provides support to projects in a broad range of areas, including research and innovation, transport, energy, education, health and risk finance for SMEs. The role of the Fund is to mobilize extra private finance and attract long term investors for risky but economically and technically viable projects. He also highlighted the need for creating an investment friendly environment and strengthening the venture capital industry in the EU.

The delegations agreed that the EU must prioritize investment in research and innovation as it is to safeguard its sources of future growth. It is therefore of utmost importance that EFSI supports further development of the European Research Area (ERA) by clearly targeting undertakings with the highest potential impact. Ministers emphasized the need for transparency in the implementation of the Fund and better communication in particular about the participation of universities and research institutions. They underlined that the collection of good practices would help the preparation of projects. Regarding the use of financial instruments several delegations highlighted that grants are essential in certain areas of RDI support, especially in the case of basic research. Therefore they recommended the complementary use of the different funding mechanism.

The plans cover the full lifecycle of a product from production and consumption to waste management and the market for secondary raw materials. This transition will be supported financially by €650 million from Horizon 2020 and €5.5 billion from structural funds from the EU’s side. The package aims to contribute to tackling climate change and to help environment while boosting job creation and economic growth. The elements of the package are a result of the cooperation led by Commissioners responsible for the Environment and the Internal Market and Industry.

The circular economy has the potential to create new jobs across Europe, while preserving precious and increasingly scarce resources, reducing environmental impacts of resource use and injecting new value into waste products. The key actions highlighted are:

• measures to encourage product durability, reparability, and recyclability,

• reduce of food waste by half compared to current levels by 2030,

• developing a strategy for the role of plastics in the circular economy, which includes a significant reduction of marine litter,

• facilitate the recognition of organic and waste-based fertilisers and support of bio-nutrients,

• development of quality standards for secondary raw materials,

• series of actions on water reuse including the reuse of wastewater.

The key elements of the proposals on waste are as follows:

• a common EU target for recycling 65% of municipal waste by 2030,

• a common EU target for recycling 75% of packaging waste by 2030,

• a binding landfill target to reduce landfill to maximum of 10% of all waste by 2030,

• a ban on landfilling of separately collected waste.

Other elements related to waste management cover discouraging the use of landfills, the harmonisation and simplification of definitions and calculations, the stimulation of industrial symbiosis (in other words, the byproducts of a certain sector are used by another industrial sector as a raw material)  and promoting to put greener products on the market.

More information about the package is available at the following links:

Press release: Closing the loop: Commission adopts ambitious new Circular Economy Package to boost competitiveness, create jobs and generate sustainable growth

Fact sheet: Circular Economy Package: Questions & Answers

The new Directive overhauls the EU's existing legal framework on the criminalisation of offences linked to terrorist activities. It implements into EU law international obligations, such as the provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution 2178(2014) on Foreign Terrorist Fighters, the recently adopted Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of terrorism and the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations on terrorist financing.

The proposed Directive would criminalise:
• Travelling for terrorist purposes, both within and outside the EU, to counter the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters;
• The funding, organisation and facilitation of such travels, including through logistical and material support, including the provision of firearms and explosives,  shelter, means of transportation, services, assets and goods;
• Receiving training for terrorist purposes. Law enforcement will be provided with the possibility to investigate and prosecute training activities having the potential  to lead to the committing of terrorist offences;
• Providing funds used to commit terrorist offences and offences related to terrorist groups or terrorist activities;

The proposal is also intended to strengthen provisions criminalising recruitment, training for terrorist purposes and the spread of terrorist propaganda, including on the internet.
The Commission proposal also lays out new rules, complementing the Directive on rights for victims from 2012, to ensure that victims of terrorism receive immediate access to professional support services providing for physical and psycho-social treatments as well as immediate information on their rights, independently of where they live in the European Union.

Works on the proposal will start soon in the competent Council Working Party.

Text can be found here.

TFAs represents a type of saturated fats which occur in nature (ruminant animals) but widely produced industrially by partial hydrogenating of vegetable oils. The biological relevance of TFA is, that it increases bad (LDL) cholesterol causing arteriosclerosis while decreases protecting (HDL) cholesterol.

Hungary was the third country in the EU to introduce legislation on the maximum content of TFA in foodstuffs. According to the ministerial decree applicable since February 2014 it is forbidden to place on the market food products in which the amount of trans fats exceeds 2 g for every 100 g of the total fat content of food products provided or sold to end consumers. In case of processed food products consisting of multiple ingredients, if

• the total fat content of the food product is lower than 20%; the amount of trans fats may not exceed 4 g for every 100 g of the total fat content of said food product;
• the total fat content of the food product is lower than 3%; the amount of trans fats may not exceed 10 g for every 100 g of the total fat content of said food product.

We do hope that after the public consultation and report envisaged in the report, the Commission will submit a legislative proposal which, similarly to the Hungarian rules, will contribute to the health protection of European citizens.

The report can be reached here: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_food-safety/dyna/enews/enews.cfm?al_id=1650

At a press conference in Prague on Thursday following the V4 prime ministers’ summit, Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka said that the V4 rejects ideas that might confine the Schengen Area – which enables free movement without internal border controls – to a smaller group of countries than the present wider group of Member States.

 

The joint declaration approved by the four prime ministers reads that “suggestions of this kind are not answers to the reasons of the current crisis, but divert political attention”. According to the V4, such ideas are “opportunist suggestions”, which put at risk the main achievement of European integration: free movement. They are therefore unacceptable.

Mr. Sobotka said that the V4 countries will suggest establishment of a wider group of countries called “Friends of Schengen”, as a part of which every participant can contribute to the reinforcement of external Schengen borders.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called this a very important initiative and commitment. However, he pointed out that the Hungarian standpoint is that border protection is an “issue of sovereignty”, and as such it is a “national responsibility”.

  "Hungary will accept assistance, but it will protect its own borders”, the Prime Minister declared. “We will not surrender this to any supreme or common body; it must stay within the realms of national competency”, he added. Mr. Orbán thanked his Visegrád partners for the help they had provided to Hungary in protecting its borders during the migration crisis.

The Prime Minister declared that the EU should provide Macedonia with special assistance, as the country has to face a huge burden due to migration.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico pointed out that Slovakia has an external Schengen border with Ukraine, which it is protecting properly. However, Slovakia is prepared to help – financially and with personnel – those countries which need assistance in protecting their Schengen borders. In this regard he highlighted Greece’s problems, because he believes that issue must be discussed.

Mr. Sobotka said that the four prime ministers also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. On this issue Mr. Orbán said that “it is an imperative for the EU to introduce a visa-free arrangement there”.

At the press conference following the meeting, Mr. Fico said that he assured Mr. Orbán of his full support for his suggestion that next year’s 25th anniversary of the Visegrád Group’s establishment should be celebrated appropriately.

Polish prime minister Beata Szydlo said that the prime ministers also discussed energy union issues, and they intend to bring them up at the December summit of the Council of Europe.

Joint Statement of the Visegrád Group countries

 

(MTI, photo: Balázs Szecsődi, Prime Minister's Press Office)

During a working breakfast ministers discussed the truly important topic of balancing work, family and private life with Commissioner Jourová. This was the first discussion after the withdrawal of the draft Maternity Leave Directive. Ministers emphasized the challenges women with small children and old or ill relatives face on the labour market. The importance of flexible working arrangements, available quality child care and the enhanced involvement of men in the domestic duties have been emphasized. As Hungary has always been a big supporter of reconciliation, we reported on the recent measures introduced, in order to enhance flexible working arrangements for mothers, which together with generous tax incentives led to a record high women’s employment rate. We draw attention to the important link between the demographic aims and the Hungarian reconciliation policies.

The EPSCO held a detailed discussion on the Women on Company Boards Directive but was not able to reach agreement, as many Member States continue to oppose due to subsidiarity and proportionality reasons. Even though we agree with the aim of having more women in the top leadership positions, Hungary was among the Member States opposing a legally binding European instrument because of the unproportionate interference into the national company law and managerial rights of the companies concerned.

As the third gender equality point on the agenda the ministers discussed the strategic engagement for gender equality 2016-2019 with Commissioner Jourová (Justice, Consumer protection and Rights, Gender Equaltiy), asking her to present a European Strategy for Gender Equality, as 22 line ministers asked for earlier this year.

The Council discussed the Annual Growth Survey Package, Ministers emphasized the importance of investments, structural reforms and the reduction of the tax wedge. Special attention should be directed to migrants, youth and long term unemployed, as well as the sustainability of the social protection systems. Ministers had mixed feelings about benchmarking, and the inclusion of social and employment indicators into the Macro Imbalance Procedure. The importance of the EPSCO Council, as well as the need for discussion in a full EU 28 round have been emphasized as well. The Hungarian delegation emphasized the need to enhance the ownership of the Semester. A solid evidence base underpinning the Commission proposals is necessary, these should focus on the goals set, and provide enough flexibility for the Member States action.  We called for the fine tuning of the existing instruments instead of creating new ones.

The ministers reached political agreement on a recommendation on the integration of the long-term unemployed, and adopted council conclusion on the equality between women and men in the area of decision making; the promotion of the social economy; and the social governance. The Council also took note of the 15thprogress report on the equal treatment directive.

The ministers working lunch served to discuss the question of improving employment and social performances within the existent governance framework. Ministers were sceptical about the added value of the Competitiveness Boards. Concerning the revitalized concept of Flexicurity, several delegations draw attention to the diverging starting points and national situations. Hungary emphasized that the discussion on the social dimensions have to take place in the round of all the 28 Members States. Whereby any commitment agreed has to respect the integrity of the internal market and has to be voluntary for the none Eurozone members.

In the framework of the health agenda items, the delegations adopted Council Conclusions on the reduction of alcohol related harm. The Commission was addressed clear invitation from the Member States to prepare, by the end of 2016, a dedicated strategy drawing up concrete measures to reduce consequences of harmful drinking.
At the meeting, the delegations welcomed the report of the Commission on trans fatty acids, and several member states, Hungary among them, urged the institution to submit, as soon as possible, a legislative proposal on setting maximum trans-fat limits in foodstuffs.

The Council adopted conclusions on personalized medicine that builds, among others, on the genetic properties of the individual patients. The document reflects the idea underlined also by Hungary, that when promoting availability of personalized medicine, the aspects of proven cost-effectiveness and sustainability of national health systems should be taken into account.

The member states dedicated specific conclusions to helping people living with dementia and their environment as well as to enhanced epidemiologic preparedness and international assistance based on the lessons learned from the West Africa ebola outbreak.

Finally, the upcoming Dutch Presidency provided a short overview on their main priorities such as fighting antimicrobial resistance, facilitating patient access to innovating medicines and improving food quality.

As compared to the outcome of a similar survey conducted in 2013, the results of Hungary has significantly been improved in almost all aspects of the areas covered by the survey and in the majority of the cases the Hungarian data are better than the EU average.

On 9 December, on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day, the European Commission released the fresh results of the Eurobarometer survey entitled ‘Businesses’ attitudes towards corruption in the EU’, which aimed at exploring the level of corruption in the EU Member States on the basis of perceptions and experiences of businesses in six key business sectors. The survey covered, among others, the problems encountered when doing business, the prevalence of corruption, the practices leading to corruption, the experiences concerning public tender or public procurement procedures and the businesses’ opinions about how corruption is tackled in their country. The survey was conducted between 21 September and 9 October 2015 on the basis of interviewing some 8000 businesses in the 28 EU Member States.

As compared to the outcome of the similar survey conducted in 2013, the results of Hungary have significantly been improved in almost all aspects of the areas covered by the survey and in the majority of the cases the Hungarian data are better even than the EU average. 

As regards the general business environment, the European businesses interviewed in 2015 have a higher turnover and are in a better situation than those interviewed in 2013. The country results show that in Hungary there has been a prominently large increase in the proportion of companies reporting an increase in turnover (+ 23 percentage points, the second largest increase in the EU). Besides, according to the survey, the Hungarian companies are less likely to mention the following issues as problems when doing businesses than they were in 2013: tax rates, fast-changing legislation and policies, complex administrative procedures, lack of means or procedures to recover debt from others, restrictive labour regulations, access to financing, including credits, inadequate infrastructure, patronage and nepotism, corruption.

Although in the most of the cases the general EU trends are also positive, it is remarkable that while the changes are generally small at the EU level, the Hungarian results show significant improvements far exceeding the EU averages. In addition, also in terms of aggregated results, the Hungarian companies are more (or in some cases at least not less) satisfied concerning the abovementioned issues than the EU average. For example there has been a decrease of 18 percentage points in the proportion of the Hungarian companies which consider the fast-changing legislation and policies as a problem, and the overall proportion of 64% exactly corresponds to the EU average. It is worth noting that companies in Hungary are now much less likely to say patronage and nepotism are problems when doing businesses (-15 pp; total: 36%), while the EU average has been slightly increased (+1 pp; total: 42%). Compared to the 2013 results, there is also a notable decline in the proportion of Hungarian companies saying corruption is a problem during their business activities (-18 pp) and the overall proportion is also around the EU average (HU: 41%; EU28: 40%).

As far as the general impressions on the level of corruption are concerned, when asked how widespread corruption is in their country, the Hungarian companies are likely to say it is widespread (81%). However, this result, with a significant decrease of 10 percentage points, is also much better than it was in 2013, and almost half of the EU Member States have worse result than that of Hungary.

At a European level, the proportion of companies that think bribery or the abuse of power for personal gain is widespread among politicians, party representatives or senior officials at a national level has fallen by 5 percentage points. The decline has, however, been even larger amongst companies, inter alia, in Hungary (-14 pp). The aggregated Hungarian result is also better than the EU average; as compared to the proportion of 68% at an EU level the Hungarian companies only say in a proportion of 60% that these phenomena are widespread.

It is also worth highlighting that in Hungary there has been a decrease of 10 percentage points in the proportion of companies that state corruption prevented them from winning a public tender or procurement contract in the last three years, and only 27% of the Hungarian companies are of this opinion, while the EU average is 34%. Besides, 42% of the Hungarian companies say corruption in public procurement managed by either national or regional/local authorities is widespread, while the EU average is significantly higher, 53% and 58% in case of public procurement at national and at regional/local level, respectively.

The Hungarian results have also been improved, as compared to 2013, concerning the question of whether there is sufficient transparency and supervision of the funding of political parties (+4 pp).

The full survey report and its summary are available through the following link.

During the meeting, on the initiative of Germany ministers discussed the financial implications of the 3 bn euro migration aid dedicated to Turkey. It is still unclear what will be the burdensharing between the EU budget and national contributions, as well as the legal form of the aid. This question is to be solved before the Summit on 17-18 December. Hungary is ready to support all solutions that do not endanger the financing of programmes under the Multiannual Financial Framework, with special regard to cohesion policy.

The Commission presented the Annual Growth Survey as the kick-off document of the 2016 European Semester which will be discussed in details at the January Ecofin meeting. Similarly to the previous year’s AGS the document set boosting investment, implementation of growth friendly structural reforms and responsible fiscal policy as the main economic policy objectives for the EU.  

As part of the discussion on the implementation of the Banking Union, the Commission gave an overview of the proposal on the establishment of a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) which is considered to be the last pillar of it. Details of the proposal is expected to be further discussed under the Dutch Presidency starting from January 2016.

Based on a French initiative the ministers had a discussion about the next possible steps of the Commission in order to strenghten the efficiency of the fight against terrorism financing. The Dutch Presidency will give priority to this area.

In line with OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan ministers have adopted Council conclusions concerning the direction of future work at EU level in the field of fighting international tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning. During the discussion at the ECOFIN meeting the Hungarian delegation confirmed their support for the BEPS project and underlined the need for ensuring flexibility for Member States in implementing OECD recommedations and also the necessity for impact assessment supporting the future measures.

The protectionist measures of some Member States hampering the market access of foreign carriers and the free movement of labour are not in line with the EU internal market rules. These unjustified measures lead to the fragmentation of the internal transport market and make the EU economy less competitive vis-à-vis third countries. The new phenomenon in the sector could be efficiently tackled by uniform interpretation and more effective application of the current rules – as Zsolt Becsey explained.

 

The wage and social security systems differences between Member States should not be interpreted as unfair competition. These factors which are based on the economic and social characteristics of each Member State keep indeed the internal market in motion – it was added by Deputy State Secretary. The delegations of the Visegrád countries asked for an urgent opinion of the Commission on German minimum wage. According to their common position, market access to the EU transport market cannot be restricted for Central and Eastern European undertakings and drivers.

The Hungarian delegation strongly opposed to the extension of the scope of Posting of workers Directive to international road transport. Hungary cannot accept the application of rules on cabotage, as well as driving and rest times for light goods vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of not more than 3.5 tonnes. During the decision-making process, a cautious approach should be followed and the analysis should be evidence-based. Measures which have adverse effects on the internal transport market can only be avoided by thorough legislation. Zsolt Becsey, Deputy State Secretary called for the need of the proper management of transport relations with third countries, in particular with Ukraine and Turkey.

The Road Package of the European Commission, which could be expected in 2017, will tackle the social issues in road transport. The aim of the debate was to provide political direction for the Commission’s work on the forthcoming modifications of the EU legislation in this matter. The European Commission will probably launch still this year the public consultation and will elaborate the elements of the package in the first half of 2016 which could be adopted by the European Commission at the end of 2016.

The Council held a policy debate on the upcoming review of the EU telecoms rules. The questions prepared by the presidency focused on next generation connectivity, equivalent treatment of equivalent services and the top priorities for the review. During the policy debate Hungary stressed that promoting connectivity to the next generation networks contributes to the achievement of the European connectivity goals. One of the top priorities should be to define the relations between OTTs and traditional electronic communication services, especially the possibility how and to what degree the new services should be subject to the existing rules. As far as regulation is concerned, we need to reduce regulatory burden, stimulate competitiveness, create legal certainty and establish a predictable legal environment.

The Commission is expected to present its proposals in 2016 as part of the Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy.

The presidency reported on the informal deal reached with the European Parliament on the draft directive on network and information security on 7 December 2015.

The presidency presented a progress report on the proposed rules to make public sector websites more accessible.

Under 'any other business', the Commission gave an update on the latest developments in Internet governance, including the transfer of the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) functions and the World Summit on the Information Society +10 (WSIS+10) review process.  The Commission informed the ministers on the progress made on telecommunications and information society issues in the ongoing trade negotiations with the United States (TTIP). Last but not least, the incoming Netherlands presidency presented its work programme in the field of telecommunications.

It can be considered success especially after the failure of the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009. The central element of the new agreement is the long term goal to keep the global average temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.

Further goal is to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century. To reach this goal, significant carbon dioxide emission reduction effort and transition to low carbon emission economies will be required.

The emission-reducing contributions announced previously by the countries are not part of the Paris Agreement and they are not legally binding however the Agreement is based on these contributions and all of these efforts will resulting in developing and increasing of the ambition level made by countries. Each country has to establish, maintain and report about their nationally defined contribution level and furthermore has to make effective measures to reduce emission and to achieve the main goal of their own national contribution level. In addition one of the most important element of the Paris Agreement is the transparency system, in other words to measure, authenticate and review of the carbon dioxide emission level.

In the second week of the climate conference, in the High Level Segment (7-8th December) Minister of State András Aradszki from the Ministry of National Development represented Hungary. He stressed in his speech that a legally binding, ambitious, universal and long term agreement is needed. He announced that besides the HUF 1 billion already offered to the Green Climate Fund Hungary will provide further HUF 1 billion to developing countries in bilateral and multilateral cooperation to finance their climate actions.

The next climate conference (COP22) will be organized in Marrakesh, Morocco between 7 and 18 November 2016.

More information on the international climate negotiations can be found at the following links:

The text of the Paris Agreement

Press release by the European Commission

Webpage of the COP21 conference

The Presidency placed the topic on the agenda based on the 2015 report of the EU Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR). The aim is the establishment of such an economical system that is more innovative, entails less emissions, uniformly manages the need for sustainable agriculture and fishery, food safety, and sustainable industrial usage of biological resources, and in the meantime protects biodiversity.

The Hungarian delegation, led by Zsolt Feldman Deputy State Secretary responsible for agricultural economy, explained that the Hungarian Government pays special attention to the agricultural research and innovation policies. Hungarian universities, research institutions and farmers could take part in various technical level forums in order to be included in the successful identification of areas of strategic importance.

Many topics concern not just Hungary, but also other countries of the Central and Eastern European region.  Therefore during the meeting in Brussels the Hungarian Deputy State Secretary called for a close cooperation between the members of the Visegrad Group and other countries in the region in order to exploit opportunities at the EU level.

The Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission (DG AGRI) developed a long-term strategy in connection with the study. The implementation is supported by a 2-year union framework programme for 2016-2017. The programme launched in October 2015 includes proposals on four topics: sustainable food safety, rebirth of the rural areas, biomass based innovation and sustainable economic development in relation with seas.

In the spirit of the traditionally good cooperation of the Visegrad Group the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia joined the initiative as well as other Member States from all over Europe.

Zsolt Feldman, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for agricultural economy definitely stood up for the interests of national honey producers. In order to more effectively filter out low-quality, often adulterated imported products he called for greater involvement of the European Commission. The Deputy State Secretary emphasized that the processing of shoddy products “results in an unreal competitive market situation for those who produce high quality products at a higher cost”.

The Hungarian initiative urges for stricter rules of labelling of origin and provenance at EU level in order to protect the Hungarian honey production which has a long tradition.

The text of the initiative is available on the following link.

Among the emission reduction targets to be reached by 2030 regarding sulphur-dioxide, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds other than methane and fine particulate matter (PM2,5) set country-by-country it was the target on ammonia that proved the most sensitive for several Member States. Agreeing on the importance of reducing the negative health effects of air pollution, the majority of Member States emphasised that the emission reduction targets need to be both ambitious and achievable.

The Council adopted conclusions on the Commission’s report on the Mid-Term Review of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. The report examined whether the EU is on track to achieve the objective of halting biodiversity loss by 2020. During the discussion based on the conclusions the majority of delegations emphasised the importance of integrating biodiversity aspects within the decision-making in other sectors and of securing adequate funding to preserve natural resources and ecosystem services that provide significant economic benefits.

Among the any other business points Commissioner Vella gave a short presentation about the proposal package to promote the move towards a circular economy. The action plan and the legislative proposal aim to extract the maximum value and use from raw materials, products and waste, fostering energy savings and reducing resource use and greenhouse gas emissions. The measures proposed cover the full lifecycle including product planning and production, consumption to waste management, as well as ensuring a viable market for adequate quality secondary raw materials. Special attention is given within the field of waste management to increasing the share of recycling within municipal, particularly plastic waste, the proper management of construction and demolition waste, as well as the reduction of food waste

Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union provided information on the Report on the state of the Energy Union. The central element of the Energy Union will be the national climate and energy plan, which the Member States should start elaborate as of 2017.

The Presidency and the Commissions briefed the ministers on the outcome of the 21st climate conference (COP21) in Paris. The Dutch delegation presented its presidency’s work programme, highlighting that the revision of the Emissions Trading System will be a priority in the field of climate policy.

During the informal working lunch Commissioner Vella delivered an update to the environmental ministers on the outcome of investigations carried out with regard to the Volkswagen case and presented the legislation on real driving emissions test procedure.

Speaking at his press conference on the final day of the EU summit, Mr. Orbán said that the Schengen system could not work unless its external borders are protected.

Mr. Orbán said that the protection of Greece’s southern borders has not been accomplished, and this is also a factor underlying the Commission's proposal for the setting up of a permanent EU coast and border control body.
Control of Greece's southern borders has not been successful, he said, adding that it is important to set up a "secondary line of defence" along Greece's borders with Macedonia and Bulgaria.

He added that the Hungarian position is that Bulgaria has proved capable of protecting its borders, and in light of this it is time to admit that country to the Schengen system.

The prime minister said that the EU should recognise and support regional cooperation such as the Visegrád Group and Hungary's joint efforts to contain the migrant crisis together with Serbia, Macedonia and Slovenia.
He also said that an important threshold had been crossed at the European summit, since this was the first one at which the issue of protecting the external borders had been the central focus.

The European Council is open to UK reform proposals

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that the heads of state and government of the European Union countries were open to UK reform proposals, and the chances of success for three of the British government's four proposals are relatively high, and there are parts of the fourth proposal which could provide a basis for further negotiations.

Compared to previous expectations, the debate on issues related to the British demands was held in a constructive atmosphere, Mr. Orbán said. The EU's four basic freedoms on the movement of people, capital, goods and services must not be restricted, he added.

According to London's most controversial proposal, workers coming to Britain from other EU Member States would only be able to access all the services in the British social welfare system after four years of continuous registered employment.

On the sidelines of the summit Mr. Orbán had talks with British prime minister David Cameron. He told reporters afterwards that Mr. Cameron is scheduled to visit Budapest on 7 January.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister)