PM Orbán: France backs Hungary’s EU presidency programme

France also supports Hungary’s programme for its upcoming European Union presidency, with its focus on strengthening the European economy, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Wednesday.

In an interview with Hungarian public media, Orbán noted that Paris was his third stop in a series of meetings with EU heads of state and government after talks in Berlin and Rome. Hungary is taking over the EU’s rotating presidency next month, he said, adding that his talks with Macron had covered French-Hungarian relations and the bloc’s next six months.

“After Berlin and Rome, we reached an agreement here as well and received approval for the next six months under the Hungarian presidency to be about improving the competitiveness of the European economy,” the prime minister said.

Orbán said he and Macron had also touched on EU enlargement in the Western Balkans. He said certain Western Balkan countries had been waiting 15 years to join the EU. “This is incorrect, bad, perhaps even humiliating,” Orbán said.

He said an overwhelming majority of member states wanted the Western Balkan countries, including Serbia, to join the EU as soon as possible, adding that Hungary would work towards this in the coming period.

The prime minister said he and Macron had welcomed the development of bilateral ties and had agreed to further strengthen them.

Currently 45,000-50,000 Hungarian families make a living at French companies, and bilateral trade turnover has doubled in ten years, he said, adding that one of France’s biggest companies was also involved in the Hungarian state’s reacquisition of Liszt Ferenc International Airport.

Orbán said he had met representatives of that company on Tuesday, and today he and Macron had reaffirmed that this was not merely an investment but also a major development programme that was important to both France and Hungary.

He said they had also spoken about European affairs at their meeting.

Orbán noted that France is leading a European nuclear coalition of EU countries that say clean energy is impossible without nuclear energy. Hungary has been a part of the coalition since the beginning, he noted, adding that they had clarified the details of their cooperation in the matter. The prime minister also noted that French companies are also heavily involved in the upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant.