Hungary begins six-month EU Council presidency: key plans

Hungary's presidency of the Council of the European Union began on July 1 and will last until December 2024, taking over from Belgium.

After Budapest completes its term, Warsaw will assume the presidency.

In mid-June, Hungary presented its presidency slogan: "Make Europe Great Again" – similar to the narrative of 45th US President Donald Trump.

However, Hungarian authorities rejected any similarities to Trump's slogan. Instead, János Bóka, the Hungarian government's Minister of European Affairs, stated it's a continuation of the "Strong Europe" slogan from Hungary's 2011 EU presidency.

Hungarian presidency priorities in the EU Council include seven areas:

→ acceptance of a New European Competitiveness Deal;

→ the reinforcement of the European defense policy;

→ a consistent and merit-based enlargement policy;

→ stemming illegal migration;→ shaping the future of cohesion policy;

→ a farmer-oriented EU agricultural policy;

→ addressing demographic challenges.

Read also: Ukraine signs security agreements with EU, Estonia, and Lithuania