Csaba Sógor: keeping minority protection issues on the European agenda is our common goal
„Cooperation between the political groups in Brussels, where only 3.46 percent of the MEPs are Hungarian, is essential for the implementation of national policy objectives" – pointed out MEP Csaba Sógor at the event organised on the 27th of June in Budapest by the National Policy Research Institute of Hungary.
Hungarian Deputy Secretary of State on National Policies Zsuzsanna Répás and Hungarian MEP from Slovakia Pál Csáky were also present at the event entitled Representing Hungarians from Slovakia and Romania in the European Parliament.
The speakers analysed the voter turnout at the recent EP elections, and talked about the priorities for the next term. Csaba Sógor assessed the results of the elections in Romania: “It was expected that the Hungarian voter turnout in Romania would be lower than the national average compared to 2007 and 2009, when 15% more Hungarians cast their votes than Romanian nationals. People feel that Brussels is too distant and believe that we are advancing only by small steps when it comes to minority protection issues. The rejection of the Minority Safepack Initiative also led to people staying home on election day”. In the opinion of the RMDSZ MEP voter turnout in the rural areas was higher due to the fact that farmers enjoy the direct benefits of the EU subsidies.
Csaba Sógor also mentioned that the most important goal of the Hungarian MEPs in Brussels is to continue to keep minority rights issues on the agenda „We must keep general human rights and minority protection matters on the EP committees’ and working groups’ agenda. We would like to see an EU-level minority protection framework agreed, such as the Roma strategy. Hungarian MEPs from Hungary and abroad must continue to cooperate in order to achieve the common goals in national policy and minority protection”, pointed out Sógor.
