Tibor Navracsics, Hungary's candidate for EC commissioner, said on Thursday evening that he wanted to represent Hungary in the EU and represent the EU in his own country.
Hungary has a vested interest in European integration and must be a part of it, Mr Navracsics told commercial news channel HirTV.
Mr Navracsics, who was justice minister in the previous government and has been serving as foreign minister in Viktor Orban's third government since June, announced his candidacy in an online post on Wednesday. "Difficult job. Great honour," he tweeted on his Twitter site in English.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán informed European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, about Mr Navracsics's formal nomination in a letter on Wednesday. "I firmly believe in and am fully committed towards European integration," Navracsics told HirTV.
He called integration as an opportunity for the survival of Europe as a whole in the current difficult economic and global political situation. Mr Navracsics, however, said that great many things "are not going well" in the EU and this prompts him to go by his own credo which is that he wants to represent Hungary in the EU and represent the EU in his own country.
He anticipated that he would face debates with fellow commissioners, even with the new EC president, but he said it cannot be doubted that Hungary has a place in the EU. "I want an EU that is comfortable also for Hungary, not only for other nations," he said.
Mr Navracsics stated that he was prepared for instances that several members of the European Parliament would vote against him or express dissent just because he is representing Hungary or for a dislike of the Hungarian government or its policy.
"But I think Jean-Claude Juncker will not be this narrow-minded," he said, adding that the area to be assigned to him would be decided upon on August 30. He identified enlargement, neighbourhood policy and innovation as favourite issues of the Hungarian side.