We do not wish to lecture and marginalise other member states, Hungary's minister for EU affairs says

The Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs, who was appointed in July, considers "the undignified situation into which we Hungarians are being forced just because we dare to think about Europe independently" to be a personal matter. János Bóka told Magyar Nemzet that he has already been fighting this battle from the front line as state secretary, and that – to put it mildly – there was enough fuel in him for "using the opportunities and all the knowledge available to [him] directly for defending the interests of the Hungarian people".

Bóka also said that the name of his ministry set up on 1 August was perhaps inaccurate, as it was not really about EU affairs but about Hungarian affairs. "For this reason, it would be more correct to call it the ministry of Hungarian affairs, but since all the ministries of the Hungarian government are ministries of Hungarian affairs, my ministerial colleagues would have probably objected to this," he said in the interview.

In his view, the European Union is in a worse state than ever before: it’s giving the wrong answers to external challenges and is spending far more energy on developing tools for ideological pressure than on nurturing diversity and taking advantage of the potential it offers.

“This approach undermines EU unity because it's digging ditches instead of seeking to find common ground.”

According to Bóka, European institutions "are functioning as a kind of crisis factory", always creating new situations. And to solve them, they propose tools and methods that do not address the problems themselves, but rather increase the centralised power of the EU institutions at the expense of member states.

However, the Hungarian government has a vision, a strategy and a proposal for solving Europe's crisis, the minister said. "The essence of European cooperation is not to deprive member states of their economic and political assets, but to contribute to strengthening them. We are thinking in terms of a Europe of nations rather than a federal Europe, and this alternative will be reflected in our decision-making," he said.

According to Bóka, during its rotating presidency of the EU, Hungary intends to show in practice how the EU it envisions works.

"We do not want to lecture and marginalise other member states. We want to put the political initiative and strategic guidance back in the hands of the member states."

– he said.

He expects the Hungarian EU presidency won't be without conflict. Political conflicts "are linked to the principles and values we stand for, but they extend beyond Hungary and the Hungarian government.

What's actually at stake is a new European policy and the potential for a new European political majority. The Hungarian presidency may also play a role in strengthening this alternative, which many are rooting against."