What will a Hungarian presidency mean for the EU?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2024
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The European Union is made up of 27 sovereign member states and has several governing institutions. On 1 July 2024, Viktor Orbán’s government will hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months.
This diplomatic role may present its challenges because Hungary takes a divergent view from centrist colleagues in a few areas, two of them being climate policy and support for Ukraine. And in the past Hungary has used its veto to stall votes on policies that support Ukraine.
After recent European elections hard-right parties now have a greater presence in the European Parliament and they have different priorities from their more centrist counterparts. The question is how the far-right, together with Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the EU, can alter the direction of European politics.
Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Louise Clarke Researchet: Matt Toulson Sound engineer: Richard Hannaford Production co-ordinator: Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott
Contributors: Pawel Zerka, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris
Thu Nguyen, deputy director of the EU policy think tank the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin
Dimitar Bechev, from the School of Global and Area Studies at the University of Oxford and Senior fellow at Carnegie Europe
Marta Mucznik, senior EU analyst for International Crisis Group
(Photo:Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Mihaly Orban. Credit: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:05.0 | My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland. |
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| 0:38.1 | UK. Welcome to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me Tanya Beckett. |
| 0:44.0 | One question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:48.8 | He is the European leader who adheres least to the values of the European Union |
| 0:57.0 | and in fact has a reputation for being the most disruptive. He's vetoed Europe's support for Ukraine in its war with |
| 1:07.4 | Russia, railed against climate policies and even blocked the reform of EU migration policy. |
| 1:15.0 | But from July 1st, his country, Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months. |
| 1:24.0 | The Council is where government ministers from each EU country meet |
| 1:28.0 | to negotiate laws and coordinate policies. |
| 1:32.0 | This week on the inquiry we're asking... coordinate policies. |
| 1:33.2 | This week on the inquiry we're asking, what will a Hungarian presidency mean for the EU? Part 1, the elections. |
| 1:49.6 | The European Union is made up of 27 sovereign member states and has several governing institutions. |
| 1:57.0 | The one we hear about most is the one which debates and makes new laws in the block, the European Parliament. |
| 2:06.0 | The Parliament is made up of representatives from all member countries |
| 2:10.0 | and the number from each country varies according to the nation's size. |
| 2:14.7 | For example, Germany has 96 representatives, whereas Luxembourg has only six. |
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