Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, considers the 2004 enlargement of the European Union a wonderful success story. He spoke about this during a background discussion on the twentieth anniversary of the EU accession of 10 countries, including Hungary, according to Népszava.
The single market has expanded significantly, intra-EU trade has increased by 40 percent over the past two decades, 6 million jobs have been created in the ten new member states, and unemployment has halved, the chairman of the committee listed.
If Hungary were to submit its application for membership to the European Union today, we would examine it in the same way as other countries, whether it meets the membership conditions, such as the requirements related to the rule of law and the elimination of corruption, said von der Leyen, who believes that it is important for all of us to all citizens in the European Union should enjoy the same rights. If we talk about today’s Hungary, we cannot forget that, according to the President of the European Commission,
“in the last two years, this country has given the EU and humanity a huge gift in the person of Katalin Karikó.”
According to the Népszava article, Ursula von der Leyen answered the question of whether the 2004 accession did not come early for countries struggling with the weaknesses of their democratic institutions and corruption.
According to the committee president, democracy must be strengthened and kept alive again and again. Moreover, the European Union now has procedures and mechanisms to guarantee the rule of law, because “all European citizens must be guaranteed the same freedoms and the same rights, such as the right to fair justice and freedom from corruption.”
