Fidesz’s delegation to the Council of Europe has joined the Council of Europe’s European Conservative and Democratic Alliance faction, said Zsolt Németh, chairman of the Hungarian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, on Monday during a week-long session of the Strasbourg-based Parliamentary Assembly.
Speaking by telephone, Zsolt Németh emphasized that joining the European Conservatives’ Group is an important step towards establishing cooperation within the European right within the Council of Europe forum.
According to him, the dominant force of the faction is, among others, the British Conservative Party, the Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS) and two Italian parties, the League and the Brothers of Italy party (Fratelli d’Italia).
He also said that members of the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) participating in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe continue to be active in the European People’s Party (EPP). In the two largest factions of the General Assembly, this provides good conditions for the representation of Hungarian interests, he added.
The head of the Hungarian delegation to the General Assembly also said that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had elected him chairman of the political committee of the General Assembly on Monday.
In this context, he emphasized that holding the presidency is also important because it will enable Hungary to implement even more successfully the priorities of the work program of the six-month presidency of the Council of Europe starting on May 21.
The Hungarian presidency of the Council of Europe intends to focus on strengthening respect for the cultural, legal and historical traditions of nations, protecting national minorities, protecting the family, promoting inter-religious dialogue, and responding to the challenges posed by artificial intelligence, cybercrime and environmental issues.
“The Hungarian presidency also creates an opportunity to show the way of thinking, the value system at the European level, which we profess as our own,” Németh added.
The Council of Europe is an international organization founded in 1949 in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. It comprises 47 member states but is not a body of the 27-nation European Union.
Title image: Zsolt Németh, chairman of the Hungarian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. (MTI)
