The Hungarian Coordination Presidency (2004–2005)
During the Coordination Presidency of the Hungarian National Assembly, two highly important meetings were held in Budapest: one of them was the Meeting of Secretaries General of the EU Parliaments on 10–11 February 2005, and the other was the Conference of Speakers of EU Parliaments on 6–7 May 2005. The main topic of the Meeting of Secretaries was the preparation for the conference in May, but the question of interpreting during the conferences (‘the language regime') was also high on the agenda.
The Conference of Speakers, held between 5 and 6 May 2005 in Budapest, discussed the importance of the growing role of the national parliaments. The delimitation of competences between the Member States and the European Union was noted as one of the main priorities of the conference. This means that effective decisions have to be made at the lowest possible level, closest to the European citizens, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.
Dr. Katalin Szili, the Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly, chaired the Coordination Presidency, at whose invitation, Margot Wallström, European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy, attended the conference in May.
The programme for the Conference included the following items:
- Exchange of views on experiences with the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty
- Rationalisation of the cooperation between international organisations
- The EU financial framework 2007–2013
- The expansion of the EU's international options through the active participation of the national parliaments, particularly with regard to relations with the Western Balkan region.
During its Coordination Presidency, the Hungarian National Assembly achieved three main results. (1) The new language regime for the Conferences was unanimously developed and adopted, which made it possible for each Member State to use its national language(s), while it ensured a fairer distribution of interpreting costs for meetings. Furthermore, both (2) the interparliamentary EU information exchange (IPEX), an electronic tool for cooperation, and (3) the scheme for EU interparliamentary meetings were developed.
The role of secretary for the Coordination Presidency was undertaken by the EU Department of the Office of Foreign Affairs, headed by Mr. Péter Sárdi. (This is the EU Department of the Directorate for Foreign Relations today.)