In a video message in Brussels on Friday posted on Facebook, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that the time has come for substantive talks to begin on the allocation of funding for border defence. Mr. Orbán noted that Hungary had spent more than 1 billion euros on protection of European borders, and that in doing so “we are not only protecting ourselves, but also Europe”.
He called on the EU to cover at least half of these costs incurred by Hungary, adding: “This must be discussed today. Let’s get to work!” The Prime Minister stated that the most important topic for that day’s EU summit was the internal restructuring of the European Union – related to which, he said, some of the proposals were completely absurd.
As an example of the latter, he mentioned a suggestion for multiple locations for the European Parliament to take account not only of European citizens, but also migrants.
He affirmed that this is not acceptable to Hungary, as the European Union belongs to Europeans and European citizens.
In his message, made public at the beginning of the one-day EU summit in Brussels, the Prime Minister said that in the course of the session he was planning to present a proposal on the so-called “red card” procedure, which would allow for a greater role for national parliaments, which would receive the right to halt debates in Europe if they were deemed to harm the national interest of a given country.
The first item on Friday’s agenda was the changing composition of the European Parliament. Following this, the items scheduled for discussion were the so-called “Spitzenkandidat” system for electing a president of the Commission, which was first employed in 2014, and a proposal for electing some MEPS from pan-European lists.
Further items scheduled for discussion were the possible merger of the posts of President of the European Commission and President of the European Council, the number of European commissioners, and the 2021–2027 seven-year Multiannual Financial Framework. In addition to these topics, brief discussion was also planned on the current state of the Brexit process and on the funding of measures for Libya aimed at dealing with the migration crisis.