The foreign minister has confirmed that Hungary took over the chairmanship of the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) from Germany at a meeting in Hamburg on Friday.
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said after the meeting, at which he briefed participants about the Hungarian Presidency’s program running until Nov. 17, that Hungary had chosen three priority areas: national minority protection, religious communities, and the rights of children and families.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas pledged his country’s support for the Hungarian presidency, adding that common values should guide its work. Marija Pejčinović Burić, the CoE’s secretary general, said the outgoing German presidency had “set a high bar”, adding that multilateral cooperation to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law was “perhaps more important than ever.”