Hungarian President János Áder called for joint EU action on migration, climate crisis and public debt management at the Arraiolos Group meeting in Rome on Wednesday.
The Arraiolos Group is an informal meeting of the presidents of parliamentary and semi-presidential member states of the European Union, which gets its name from the Portuguese town of Arraiolos where the first meeting was held in 2003.
At the press conference following the 16th meeting of the panel, the Hungarian head of state said there is “room, place and reason for establishing international co-operation on migration”.
“The union must step up its action against human traffickers and terrorists, as must the resources needed to rebuild humanitarian areas be boosted”.
In the context of public debt management, he said several countries had already struggled with problems in the area before the coronavirus epidemic, but COVID-19 had only deepened the crisis, which he said urgently needed joint action. In the absence of this, he added, it will be very difficult to achieve and implement the common goals and projects of the EU.
Regarding the climate situation, he noted that today the world is further away from achieving the Paris climate goals than it was six years ago when these goals were formulated in Paris. He drew attention to the fact that Hungary was the first in the EU to commit to a climate-neutral law by 2050, and 90 percent of Hungary’s electricity generation will be carbon-free by 2030 as a result of government measures.
According to Áder, when talking about the future of the European Union, it must be clarified whether member states will build on the existing foundations and observe the founding treaty, or allow room for stealthy legislation, the applying of double standards and a bureaucratization of the EU.
Title image: Hungarian President János Áder at the Rome meeting of the Arraiolos Group. (MTI/Noémi Bruzák)
