The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, which begins on July 1 and lasts until the end of the year, confirmed today, that he places among his leading tasks the achievement of a positive decision on the abolition of the land Schengen borders of Bulgaria and Romania by the end of the year, BTA reported.
Finishing this issue is a priority for us, the Hungarian Permanent Representative to the EU Ambassador Balint Odor told journalists in Brussels. He added that among Budapest's leading tasks is also reducing the number of illegally arriving migrants. Among the other priorities of the presidency, the ambassador noted the improvement of the possibilities of European defense production and the continuation of the EU enlargement process with the countries of the Western Balkans and the other candidates from the eastern part of Europe.
We want to achieve the greatest possible progress with the countries of the Western Balkans, to start substantive negotiations with Albania, to advance with North Macedonia. We need to speed up the process, added the ambassador and noted that Budapest is ready to host an EU-Western Balkans meeting.
We will do everything in our power for a smooth transition given the geopolitical context, we will be an honest mediator, we will continue the work for Ukraine and the Middle East with the necessary steps, the ambassador pointed out. The motto of the Hungarian presidency will be “Making Europe great again” and the logo resembles a Rubik's cube.