Hungary held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2024. After 2011, this was the second time in the country's still young EU history that Budapest has held this important function. The tasks of the Council Presidency are traditionally to organise and lead the Council meetings, to work out compromise proposals for problems between member states or between the Council and other Union institutions, and to represent the Council at other international organisations and third countries. In its programme, the Hungarian government placed a focus on topics such as competitiveness, defence, enlargement policy, illegal migration and demography. As in 2011, the different assessments of developments in Hungarian domestic policy led to disputes between Budapest and other member states and EU institutions. This time, however, differences of opinion in foreign policy also emerged and even dominated. In particular, the meeting between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin at the very beginning of the Council Presidency caused a stir. These controversial issues overshadowed the Council Presidency in the media, although successes were achieved at the working level. 

The aim of the workshop is to take stock of the Hungarian Council Presidency at the end of the six-month period. Some of the input for this stock-taking will come from Hungarian officials from various ministries who were actively involved in organising and implementing the Presidency. On the other hand, German and Hungarian experts and academics will also evaluate the Presidency. 

Responsible: Ellen Bos and András Hettyey

The detailed detailed programme is available here.

Please register HERE.