Event report

On 18 November 2021, Minister of Justice of Hungary, Ms. Judit Varga held a consultation in the Landtag (state parliament) of North Rhine-Westphalia on the future of Europe with the participation of several local representatives and experts. During the consultation, the Minister outlined in detail the 7 points summarizing Hungary’s position on the future of Europe based on our country’s firm commitment to the concept of a ‘strong Europe of strong nation states’. She emphasized as well that the institutions of the EU and its common policies should focus on strategic issues, worthy of discussion, respecting the autonomy of the Member States concerning further topics. However, the way in which certain EU institutions intervene in matters falling definitely under national competence according to the Treaties (e.g. social or family policy) clearly breaches the EU law. The expansion of the bureaucracy in Brussels was also a topic of discussion at the meeting, and it was deemed by MPs of the CDU party, concerning as well. In their view, in addition to Europe's competitiveness, we should focus on strengthening the EU as a community of values. In this regard, they see themselves primarily as bridge-builders in the conference process. On the issue of the rule of law, Josef Neumann (SPD) believes that there is no politics without ideology and that such debates could not be circumvented. The only question is whether we will be able to conduct this discourse constructively. In this regard, he also drew attention to their role as bridge-builders. Welcoming this, the Minister emphasized that issues of legal nature (e.g. supranational vs. Member State competences) can only be resolved on a professional basis, regardless of ideological differences.