The European Parliament will be convened in Strasbourg again next week (7-10 October), as it will receive Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been asked to list the priorities of the Hungarian presidency of the Council. In fact, the six-month presidency is over half its mandate, but for some organizational reasons and other engagements the talks between the MEPs and Orban have been postponed so far. The Hungarian Government had announced the following priorities for its six-month presidency: a new European deal on competitiveness; promoting the European defence policy; a consistent and merit-based enlargement policy; fighting illegal immigration; defining the future of the cohesion policy; a farmer-centric EU agricultural policy; addressing demographic challenges. In addition, the EU Parliament mentioned that, under the latest legislature (2019-2024), the floor “had repeatedly decried the Hungarian Government’s systematic attempts at undermining the EU values and the threats it poses to institutions and common funds. The MEPs also expressed serious concerns over Orbán’s Government’s ability to play a reliable guiding role within the Council”.
Other items on the agenda of the plenary session include: the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and Lebanon; Schengen, a debate on internal border control; strengthening security at external borders, with the support of Frontex; the car industry, how to get out of the crisis.