Hungarian experts optimistic about positive Türkiye-EU relations under their union presidency

ISTANBUL

Hungarian experts said on Friday that Türkiye-EU relations will follow a positive course, with potential resolutions to existing issues, during their country's presidency of the union.

“Hungary not only seeks Türkiye but also all of the Balkans and other countries within the EU. It can be said clearly that Hungary is one of the most eager members for this region. In this sense, I expect serious movements and activities,” Zoltan Egeresi, a research fellow at Institute for Strategic and Defence Studies at University of Public Service in Hungary, told Anadolu.

Egeresi said that Hungary will strive to be an active EU presidency and will demonstrate effectiveness within this framework.

Pointing out that 2024 is the Turkish-Hungarian Culture Year, Egeresi said that the activities within the framework Budapest-Ankara relations will proceed rapidly.

He added that this will highlight Türkiye’s importance both in Hungary and EU.

Underlining Hungary's relations with the Turkic world, Egeresi stated: "Hungary became an observer to the Turkic Council six years ago. Hungary is trying to play a bridging role."

Egeresi said Hungary will share its experiences gained as an EU member on integration of Turkic states, and activities in this regard will increase.

Egeresi mentioned the possibility that Hungary, currently an observer member in the organization, could become a full member in the future, noting that the country already behaves “practically like a full member” by participating in forums and workshops.

Noting that the EU was founded and strengthened on economic grounds, Egeresi further said that the Organization of Turkic States is following a similar path.

“The Middle Corridor Project, and perhaps the opening of the Zangezur Corridor in the coming years, increase the importance of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Türkiye for both the EU and Hungary,” he added.

“Hungary will want to capitalize on this increase. In terms of bilateral relations, we can see serious cooperation in various fields; we can see significant energy cooperation between Hungary and Azerbaijan and Hungary and Türkiye,” he further added.

Hungary desires to ‘push Türkiye’ to EU membership

Emphasizing that the Hungarian government desires Türkiye’s EU membership, Csaba Moldicz, the head of the Center for Foreign Economics at Mathias Corvinus College, said that the Hungarian government aims to review and modernize the EU-Türkiye Customs Union Agreement, during its presidency of EU.

“The Hungarian government wants to put or push Türkiye closer to this line of membership, at the same time, the road is extremely long in that sense that the EU and Türkiye have to manage certain disputes,” Csaba Moldicz told Anadolu.

Describing Budapest’s foreign policy as “pragmatic”, Moldicz further said: “One of the topics that we are going to discuss is a new agreement on European competitiveness. What we see is the European industry, the European economy, is losing ground in front of their competitors,” he added.

He also said that the Hungarian government also wants to resolve illegal migration and other disputes, including enlargement, but is primarily focusing on the Western Balkans.

Speaking on Hungary’s possible contributions to Organization of Turkic States, Moldicz further added that Budapest aims to provide Turkic states with an economic platform to access the EU market, emphasizing reliable and sustainable relationships built on economic cooperation.