A look back at Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union and a look ahead to Poland’s presidency.

It was feared by many: the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU). Hungary holds the presidency from July 2024 to December 2024. Many voices were raised in advance to prevent this presidency. Ultimately, this did not happen, and Hungary has held the presidency of the Council of the EU for the past months. This article looks at how the presidency of the Council of the EU works. As the term is almost over, it also looks back at the Hungarian presidency. Were the concerns expressed in advance justified? Finally, it looks ahead to the next presidency: Poland.

The rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union

In the Council of the EU, the ministers of the Member States negotiate about EU legislation. As explained in a previous article, the presidency of this Council changes every six months. The Member State holding the presidency can influence the EU’s political agenda. This rotation system offers all Member States the opportunity to determine the direction of the EU.

An advantage of this system for Member States is that they can determine the EU’s priorities by putting certain issues (of national importance) on the agenda. In addition, it ensures that smaller Member States can also put their mark on the EU, where they would normally be less influential compared to the larger Member States. Furthermore, the presidency and the additional increasing (media) attention, can make the EU less abstract for citizens from the specific Member State.

A disadvantage, however, is the high workload that can be difficult for smaller Member States to fulfil. Also, the biannual change can be accompanied by different styles, capacities, and priorities, which can make the EU’s direction unstable. This may then also affect the EU’s long-term goals. To limit the latter, the presidency always consists of a group of three Member States working together. These three Member States determine priorities on which they work together. However, only one of the three holds the presidency at a time and sets individual priorities – which fit into the joint programme.

The current presidency trio consists of Spain (presidency July 2023 – December 2023), Belgium (presidency January 2024 – June 2024), and Hungary (presidency July 2024 – December 2024). The trio programme focuses on strengthening European competitiveness, the green and digital transition, and international partnerships, multilateral cooperation, and security. A new trio will start in January 2025, consisting of Poland, Denmark, and Cyprus.

The presidency of the Council of the EU has several tasks. This Member State coordinates the work of the Council, and plans, prepares, and chairs the meetings. The Member State holding the presidency also represents the Council in other EU institutions and promotes cooperation between Member States. In addition, this Member State plays a role in representing the EU at the international level, usually together with the High Representative and the presidents of the European Council (consisting of the heads of state or government of all Member States) and the European Commission.

Controversy Hungarian presidency

Before the start of the Hungarian presidency, there was already much discussion within the EU about whether Hungary should be allowed to hold the presidency. It was feared that the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would damage the EU’s image. The relationship between Hungary and the EU has been tense for years. Under Orbán, the Hungarian rule of law has come under pressure and there is hardly any press freedom in the country. This is why in 2018, the Article 7 procedure was started against Hungary for the first time in history. Through the Article 7 procedure, membership rights can be suspended if certain EU principles, including the rule of law (all these principles are included in Article 2 TFEU), are violated by a Member State.

Hungary’s pro-Russian stance also causes discomfort. Hungary regularly blocks sanctions against Russia and makes support for Ukraine more difficult, while the rest of the EU wants to act unanimously in this regard. In a resolution, the European Parliament asked how Hungary could credibly hold the presidency. Legal means to take away the presidency from Hungary were also considered. In the end, none of this happened and Hungary has held the presidency for the past six months.

However, others in the EU were stating that ‘the damage’ of the Hungarian presidency would be limited. The presidency did not take place at a favourable time. It was just after the European elections, and the new balance of powers still had to take shape. The new European Commissioners of the European Commission still had to be nominated, their hearings were not until November and the European Parliament had also just been elected. Since the European Commission had not yet been installed, it was not making any major legislative proposals, which means that the EU’s ordinary legislative procedure had largely been at a standstill. This means no decisions were to be made on major substantive dossiers in the first months after the elections.

Nevertheless, several important events took place in the months of the Hungarian presidency. One of the most important is the re-election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, to which the EU must respond. Furthermore, the war in Ukraine is still one of the most important issues that the EU is concerned with. The major conflict in the Middle East is also in the political foreground.

Priorities of the Hungarian Presidency

Hungary presented itself as an “honest broker”, “in the spirit of sincere cooperation between Member States and institutions, for the peace, security and prosperity of a truly strong Europe”. Like every Member State holding the presidency, Hungary also formulated several priorities: (1) a new European competitiveness deal; (2) the reinforcement of European defence policy; (3) a consistent and merit-based enlargement policy; (4) stemming illegal migration; (5) shaping the future of cohesion policy; (6) a farmer-centred EU agricultural policy; and (7) addressing demographic challenges.

The priorities seem to fit within a fairly general programme that the EU has been working on for some time. For example, the focus on European competitiveness fits well into the current direction of the EU following the recently published Draghi report. As expected, the Hungarian presidency does not focus on climate or on protecting the rule of law in the European Member States. The emphasis was also clearly different from that of the other two Member States in the presidency trio. For example, the Belgian priorities included ‘defending the rule of law, democracy and unity’ and ‘pursuing a green and just transition’, and the Spanish priorities also explicitly included ‘advance in the green transition and the environmental adaptation’.

A presidency also requires a logo and a slogan. The logo of the Hungarian presidency (see image below) was a Rubik’s Cube; a Hungarian invention that exists exactly 50 years in 2024. According to the Hungarians themselves, it symbolises the “Hungarian nation’s ingenuity, creativity, strategic thinking and sophistication”. According to Hungary, solving the Rubik’s Cube requires “strategic insight, patience, discipline and precision”, which are necessary qualities for holding the presidency. The slogan of the Hungarian presidency was strongly inspired by Donald Trump’s well-known election slogan: ‘Make Europe Great Again’. Although the presidency has not yet officially ended, it can already be looked back at; how ‘great’ is Europe after the Hungarian presidency?

The logo of the Hungarian presidency. Source: Hungarian Presidency website

Looking back at the Hungarian Presidency

The first week of the presidency immediately caused a lot of commotion. The presidency started on a Monday; on Wednesday Orbán was in Ukraine (where he pushed for a ceasefire), on Friday he was in Russia, and on the following Monday he was in China. The fact that within a week, Orbán had already visited Russian President Putin as part of, as he called it, ‘peace missions’, caused anger within the EU. Although Orbán did not tell the other heads of government about these so-called ‘peace missions’, he did use the logo of his EU presidency. European heads of government were, of course, displeased and immediately made clear that he was not making these trips as an ‘EU representative’. In response, the European Commission decided to no longer send European Commissioners to meetings chaired by Hungary (only civil servants). In other words, they boycotted the presidency.

The fact that the EU was displeased with the actions of the Hungarian prime minister also showed during the plenary session of the European Parliament on 9 October, where Orbán presented his priorities for the presidency. This presentation should have taken place earlier but was postponed due to the floods in Hungary. It is a tradition for heads of government to present the priorities of their presidency in the European Parliament. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also addressed the parliament and strongly criticised Orbán for, among other things, his rapprochement with Russia and his positions on the war in Ukraine. She said: “There are still some who blame this war not on the invader but on the invaded”, after which she asked the rhetorical question whether “[these people] would ever blame the Hungarians for the Soviet invasion of 1956?” The applause of the pro-European groups during von der Leyen’s speech and the applause of Orbán’s Patriots for Europe group during Orbán’s speech are characteristic of the tense presidency.

Despite the discomfort the EU felt during the Hungarian presidency, the substantive achievements seem relatively moderate. Although the legislative procedure has largely been at a standstill over the past six months, some decisions have been taken. On 27 November, the Council reached an agreement in its position on a proposal to facilitate the use of cohesion funds to support Member States affected by natural disasters. Previously, negotiations for full Schengen membership for Bulgaria and Romania had been held under the Hungarian presidency, resulting in a joint Hungarian-Austrian-Romanian-Bulgarian declaration. Although passport checks at airports and seaports were lifted for both countries in March 2024, passport checks were still applied to travellers by land due to an Austrian veto. According to Austria, the countries were still doing too little to combat illegal migration. Under the Hungarian presidency, Austria also agreed to full accession to Schengen. The agreement still needs to be approved unanimously by the Member States on 12 and 13 December, after which the checks could be lifted as early as 1 January 2025.

Polish Presidency

Since Hungary’s presidency is shortly coming to an end, it is time to look ahead to the next one. Poland will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in January for the second time since joining the EU. Poland has also been at odds with the EU over the rule of law in the last couple of years. Since Donald Tusk, after nine years, became the Polish prime minister again at the end of 2023, relations with the EU have improved. The six-year-long proceedings that the European Commission had initiated against Poland – similar to those against Hungary – for violating the rule of law have been withdrawn. The new government has implemented several reforms, which have strengthened the rule of law in Poland to such an extent that the European Commission has withdrawn the proceedings. Given that relations between the EU and Poland have improved considerably over the past year, the Polish presidency led by the pro-European Tusk will be less tense than the past six months.

Although the Polish priorities have not yet been officially announced at the time of writing, several commitments have already been made. During a meeting of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Warsaw, Polish Deputy State Secretary Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka unveiled the central theme: ‘security’. This will be structured around seven pillars: external, energy, economic, food, climate, health, and information. Prime Minister Tusk confirmed at the beginning of December that the presidency will focus on ‘security’, ‘energy’ and ‘competitiveness’. The new relations on the world stage will also take shape under this presidency. Hence, the new relationship with the United States will be a theme that Poland will have to deal with.

In addition, there will also be presidential elections in Poland in May 2025. These are important elections because in Poland the president has a veto. The current PiS president Andrzej Duda (the political opponent of Prime Minister Tusk) is using this veto to block reforms by Tusk’s pro-democratic government. These elections will take place during the presidency of the Council of the EU, which may divert (national) attention from this presidency. On the other hand, the presidency can also be used in campaigns, as Emmanuel Macron did in 2022 during the French presidency. Putting certain topics on the European agenda and emphasising the international capacities during the presidency, may have a positive effect on the national election campaign.

The new presidency trio that will take office in January awaits important tasks. The EU is facing major challenges. The war in Ukraine, the tensions in the Middle East, the new power relations in the world as Trump is once again president of the United States and the climate issue, are just a few examples. As the new European Commission has been installed and the European Parliament is fully working again, the EU can once again work at full capacity. In short, Poland awaits a busy political six months.

Hanna Krijgsman van Spangenberg holds a master’s degree in Political Science from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a bachelor’s degree in European Studies from the University of Amsterdam with a major in European history.

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