Hungary's EU presidency will boost self-confidence of Central Europe, says FM

xinhua.net

English.news.cn 2010-11-27 05:49:00

BUDAPEST, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi told foreign journalists in Budapest on Friday that one of the focuses of Hungary's six-month presidency of the European Union (EU) in 2011 would be increasing both the influence and self- confidence of Central Europe.
"We want more attention to be paid to the region," Martonyi said. "We want Central Europe to be more assertive both inside and outside Europe."
Martonyi said that alongside the existing Visegrad four alliance of four Central European countries -- which comprises Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia -- Central Europe increasingly looks south to encourage the integration of the Western Balkans, east to improve relations with Russia and the countries of the EU's Eastern Partnership, as well as west to Austria and the rest of the EU.
According to the foreign minister, a particular priority of the Hungarian presidency will be developing the EU's "neighborhood policy" regarding the bloc's relations with its neighboring countries in the south and particularly in the east.
"There must be synergy between the EU's policy towards Russia and towards those countries in the Eastern Partnership," he said.
A summit meeting involving the six members of the EU's Eastern Partnership initiative, namely Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, will be held in Budapest in May 2011.
Martonyi added that he expects substantial progress will be made in 2011 in the field of integration of the Western Balkan countries into the European Union.
"We want to speed up negotiations concerning Croatia's accession and hopefully conclude the negotiation process by the end of June," he elaborated.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

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