Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said France supports Hungary’s program for its upcoming European Union presidency, with its focus on strengthening the European economy.
After talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, PM Orbán noted that Paris was his third stop in a series of meetings with EU heads of state and government after talks in Berlin and Rome. Hungary is taking over the EU’s rotating presidency next month, he said, adding that his talks with Macron had covered French-Hungarian relations and the bloc’s next six months. “After Berlin and Rome, we reached an agreement here as well and received approval for the next six months under the Hungarian presidency to be about improving the competitiveness of the European economy,” the prime minister said. Orbán said he and Macron had also touched on EU enlargement in the Western Balkans. He said certain Western Balkan countries had been waiting for 15 years to join the EU. “This is incorrect, bad, perhaps even humiliating,” PM Orbán said. He said an overwhelming majority of member states wanted the Western Balkan countries, including Serbia, to join the EU as soon as possible, adding that Hungary would work towards this in the coming period.