State Secretary Barna Pál Zsigmond said the purpose of European integration is not to abandon national self-determination and independence but to strengthen nation-states.
Speaking at a meeting of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC) in Budapest on Monday, the state secretary said the EU is lagging behind its global competitors, and the Hungarian EU presidency wants to promote higher productivity and growth in the bloc.
Priorities enumerated by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán include adopting a new European competitiveness pact, fortifying defence policy and running a merit-based enlargement policy. Hungary also wants to curb illegal migration, introduce a farmer-centric EU agricultural policy and address demographic challenges, he said.
"Twenty years ago, we felt Hungary's EU membership as a historic success based on a national consensus, and notwithstanding current difficulties, we still feel the same today," he said. "But now it's more and more the case that a centralised and politicised institutional system is spreading over member states."