Hungary’s EU membership is a historic success based on national consensus

Hungary’s EU membership is a historic success based on national consensus, a decision for which there was no alternative then, and there is no alternative now, said the minister responsible for EU affairs in the Budapest 20 years in the European Union – and the future… at the conference. At the meeting organized by the Hungarian Economic Society (MKT), János Bóka said that the situation of the EU and our membership should be realistically evaluated, because it provides lessons for the future.

The union remains the promise that the member states can be stronger together and “together we can remain who we are,” said the minister.

According to János Bóka, turning this possibility into reality can only be achieved by “disenchanting” the EU, with a conscious and critical approach to the myths of the European Union. He called this the most important task in the coming years.

Alignment and merging

According to him, there are two narratives in the EU: the alignment and unification narrative.

One is the alignment narrative, according to which only one model can be recognized as European, the defining elements of which are determined by French and German economic and social development. On the other hand, in 2004, the joining states, including Hungary, saw the reunification of Europe and still see it today in integration.

With this, in addition to the alignment narrative, the unifying narrative also appeared, according to which national identity and constitutional traditions, the culture of consensus seeking, and the exclusion of ignoring the economic and social interests of entire regions or member state groups are important, said János Bóka.

According to the minister, the conflict between the narratives appeared in the plan on how to force a member state with a different position to change its position with political, institutional and financial sanctions.

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János Bóka, the minister responsible for European Union affairs, will give a presentation at the conference of the Hungarian Economic Society entitled 20 years in the EU at the Európa Pont in Budapest on April 22, 2024.

Photo: Zoltán Máthé/MTI/MTVA

Sovereignty

According to the sovereignist point of view, the member states are the masters of the future of European integration, he said. The member states created the EU with the aim of jointly exercising certain rights, primarily in areas where individual member state action is not effective enough, but the member states are the sole bearers of sovereignty, only they can decide what powers they wish to exercise jointly – He told.

The nations of the Central-Eastern European region were ready to bargain so that they could be stronger together by handing over certain powers, said Bóka, who said that the goal was not to surpass the nation-states, but to strengthen them. Currently, legally, all member states, and politically, the medium and smaller member states are ineffective against the ever closer unification process, he said.

The European Commission and the EP

János Bóka also addressed the European Parliament: the EP considers itself the custodian of European democracy, and thus seeks to expand its powers and strengthen its supranational nature, while the European Commission expects from the EP independent legitimacy from the member states.

The Commission is no longer simply a political but a geopolitical committee, he said, citing as an example that it has an independent political agenda and does not fit in with the political agenda of the member states. They use the resources available to them to enforce their political agenda, he said.

Court of Justice of the European Union

The minister also evaluated the functioning of the EU from a constitutional point of view. He said that the Court of Justice of the European Union considers the EU not a legal community, but a community of interests, and designates itself as the final forum for EU value disputes. In the scope of application of EU law, the Court severed the link between member state courts and constitutional courts, he said.

According to Bóka, the myth of the EU is that the West has made gestures towards the East, including by admitting Hungary and EU funds, and based on this, according to the myth, it is right to expect that the beneficiary member states accept the interests of the net contributors as compensation, said Bóka, who believes that the the radical conclusion of this line of thought is that EU funds only go to those who take the position of “policy taker”. (MTI)