BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary will focus on economic recovery and Roma integration when it takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in January, State Secretary for EU Affairs Eniko Gyori said Sunday.
Some of the goals of the new Hungarian government, such as job creation, coincide with the priorities of the EU, Gyori told the national news agency MTI.
"There is a fragile recovery in the European Union, but not until it translates into jobs will people believe that it makes any sense," she said. Hungary has submitted its priorities to fellow member states, and Budapest will formalise the key points of its EU presidency after passing the package in parliament in October. Gyori said social inclusion, geared to finding a solution to the Roma issue, would also be an important item on the agenda.
"We think this is a European issue," she said. "But nothing much has happened so far" to resolve it.
The issue has received renewed attention in Europe after France began to repatriate Romanian and Bulgarian Roma earlier this year, overshadowing a recent EU summit and igniting a row between France and Germany.
The millions of Roma who live in eastern Europe have little access to jobs, education and health care, and many leave for the West in search of a better life.
Gyori said Hungary, which has struggled to integrate its own 700,000-strong Roma community, has specific proposals and hopes to reach a European compromise.
"The essence is that we must deal with this issue on the basis of social inclusion, not on a basis of ethnicity," she said. "Access to work and education is what moves us forward."
(Reporting by Marton Dunai)
