H.E. Mr. Gergely Bánhegyi:

I return to what Senator Chambers mentioned about energy, precious metals, supporting SMEs and relations with China. That is why the European Union and member states have to agree a joint strategy on how to improve competitiveness. The Senator mentioned the state subvention of Chinese businesses. This topic was also one of the motives for the recent decision for extra duties on Chinese electric vehicles We understand the European Union might want to find new and innovative ways to deal with and co-operate with Chinese businesses. On one hand, the EU has to protect itself from other competitors in this competitive environment. On the other hand, we still have to find ways to co-operate because there is no doubt, and most of us agree, that it would be impossible to cut all ties with China. This is not possible, in the innovative branches especially. That is why we aim to create this new competitiveness deal to find a balance in this challenging environment.

I turn to Ukraine. As was mentioned, yesterday the Prime Minister visited Kyiv to meet President Zelenskyy. That was a sign to try to settle our bilateral issues. As we reiterated many times, between Hungary and Ukraine the biggest unsettled issue is the status and position of the Hungarian minority, which has been suffering the deprivation of its rights in recent years. The Hungarian Government and most high-level state actors express that Ukraine has a right to defend itself against Russia, and the right to sovereignty based on its internationally acknowledged borders. It was mentioned many times by the Hungarian Prime Minister and our ministers and President. The first intergovernmental conference was held on 25 June, during the Belgian Presidency. This is now the time for the European Commission to continue assessing the state of preparedness of Ukraine and to open negotiations in specific chapters. That is why we think the first task of the new European Commission during our Presidency will be to continue this assessment. The first chapters will probably be opened after the Hungarian Presidency. We do not expect any progress in this issue. Hungary has not blocked the decisions of the European Union and European Council to start negotiations with Ukraine to organise the first intergovernmental conference. We always raised our concerns but, as a member of the Union, we have not blocked these big decisions.

The Senator mentioned that she views the migration pact as a good tool and a good solution to tackle this issue. We believe monitoring of the implementation is the responsibility of the Commission. It has published the joint implementation plan, which is a guideline. We believe the process should be managed, not just by the Commission but also with the involvement of the member states. Under the Presidency, we want to give space to the member states at a high level and at an expert level to raise concerns and questions about the pact. We also believe it is necessary to talk about issues which have been pushed into the background during the adoption of the pact, for example, innovative initiatives and the external dimension and partnerships with the main countries of origin and transit.

I thank the Senator for the question on demographic challenges. I am happy that she also found some common ground in this matter. I will try to give some details on this issue and some examples from our detailed programme. We wish to place special emphasis on finding ways to address the challenges for older generations, in terms of staying in the labour market for a longer time if they wish. We are also trying to tackle the implementation of the European occupational, health and safety, and environment safety frameworks strategy. We are also focused on the demographic toolbox of the European Commission and would like to follow its guidelines in trying to tackle these issues. I understand it is a complex spread of issues, including social welfare systems, labour markets and rural depopulation. It is an issue strongly connected to different fields.