Árpád Duka-Zólyomi » News

My contribution to the meeting of the EU-Georgia PCC

2009 February 18, Wednesday

Dear Georgian friends, dear colleagues,

the armed conflict between Georgia and Russia of August 2008 is generally interpreted as a hard failure of the involved parties to settle the “frozen” conflict over Abkhazia and South-Ossetia by peaceful means. Now, the international public opinion is trying to appoint those responsible for the escalation of the conflict. Do we really have the chance to find the originators of the sad events in last August? I think, if anybody had any doubts during or shortly after the conflict, by now there have appeared a couple of facts, which reveal us the pure intentions of the involved parties, already not covered by the beneficiant curtain of the diplomatic language.

This WEEK in the European Union

2008 November 10, Monday

EUobserver.com

EU relations with Russia are set to take up much of the discussion between European foreign ministers meeting on Monday and Tuesday. At the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council, they will discuss preparations for the EU-Russia summit to be held in Nice at the end of the week.

Briefing - 20-23 October 2008 - Strasbourg plenary session

2008 October 20, Monday

www.europarl.europa.eu

Outcome of EU summit: financial crisis, food prices, climate/energy, immigration, Lisbon Treaty
MEPs will hold a debate on Tuesday 21 October with French President and Council President-in-Office Nicolas Sarkozy on the outcome of the EU summit of 15-16 October in Brussels, where the European Union’s leaders are due to discuss the world financial situation, energy and climate issues, immigration and asylum, food and petrol prices and the next steps on the Lisbon Treaty. The House will vote on a resolution on Wednesday.

Slovak MEPs rushed into a nonexistent enemy

2008 October 13, Monday

Press release: Edit Bauer and Árpád Duka-Zólyomi

On yesterday’s plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels the Members of the European Parliament (MEP) of the Slovak ruling coalition unanimously raised their voices against the expected, but undone criticism from the MEPs representing the Party of Hungarian Coalition in Slovakia (SMK-MKP). We hoped that at least one of them would distance oneself from discriminatory practices of the Minister of Education or at least from the statements of the Chairman of the Slovak National Party (SNS), which spread hatred. Unfortunately, this did not happen. In contrary, they have taken intolerant acts, which have been on the agenda of the Slovak political scene for a longer period now, even to the EP grounds. Accusing us of provocation and trigger tension in the Slovak media about our alleged speeches during the Plenary in advance, without us even saying a word, was for other MEPs at least strange, if not embarrassing. Just a short time ago we were glad to see the Slovak colleagues raising their voices in the interest of the Slovak minority in Pilisszentkereszt, Hungary. But somehow they forgot that they had helped the self-government of the Slovak minority in Hungary.

Threatening MEPs with the expression of autonomy speaks about a deep lack of knowledge about the real situation in Europe. Talking about self-governance is neither felonious nor prohibited. What’s more, some of the Member States have different forms of efficiently working autonomy on their territory which do not impair the neither the integrity nor the sovereignty of the state. Criticising the participation of MEPs from SMK-MKP on the Forum of Deputies of the Carpathian Basin is a demonstration of lack of knowledge as there are similar forums also in Romania, Italy and so on. Instead, such forums should be used for deepening the cooperation between nations. To achieve this, it would be necessary that some of the Slovak colleagues would not mislead the domestic media with lies and half-truths. By listening to the allegations from one of our colleagues on hypothetically existing efforts about the renewal of the former “Great Hungary” might evoke in the united Europe at the most just a smile.

If the MEPs representing the Slovak ruling coalition could eliminate the prejudices against the Hungarian minority living in Slovakia, they could avoid further blundering, unlike they did by their yesterday’s speeches in the Plenary.

MEPs set stage for lifting Belarus sanctions

2008 October 8, Wednesday

EUobserver.com

The European Parliament is to give broad political backing for EU states to next week partly suspend Belarus sanctions. The Vienna-based pan-European security club, the OSCE, lent its support to the move in Minsk on Tuesday.

This WEEK in the European Union

2008 October 6, Monday

EUobserver.com

This week will start with a meeting of the EU’s economy and finance ministers (ECOFIN) in Luxembourg on the need for a European response to the international financial crisis, just a day after the bloc’s four biggest states - Germany, France, Britain and Italy – hold emergency talks on the subject in Paris.

Belarus opposition calls on EU not to recognise election ‘farce’

2008 September 29, Monday

EurActiv.sk

Belarus opposition leaders urged the EU not to recognise the results of six-day parliamentary elections which ended on Sunday (28 September), in which allies of President Alexander Lukashenko, seen as Europe’s last dictator, claimed all the seats in the 110-strong parliament.

WebTV aims to bring Parliament ‘into people’s homes’

2008 September 18, Thursday

Euractiv.com

The European Parliament yesterday (17 September) launched its own online TV channel, EuroparlTV, in an attempt to reverse widespread political disenchantment among citizens ahead of the European elections.

MEPs call on EU states to list Hezbollah as terrorist group

2008 September 17, Wednesday

EUobserver.com

A group of MEPs from across the political spectrum have launched a campaign calling on EU governments to list Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shia militant group, as a terrorist organisation.

The Week Ahead 15 - 21 September 2008

2008 September 15, Monday

Europarl.europa.eu

Committee meetings and political groups week - Brussels

This WEEK in the European Union

EUObserver.com

This week, the EU’s General Affairs and External Relations Council - meeting on Monday has a full plate, looking at the fall-out from the collapse of the latest attempt at reviving the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Round of talks, as well as implementation of the Georgia peace plan.

EU breaks the ice with Belarus

2008 September 8, Monday

EUobserver.com

The European Commission has proposed inviting Belarus foreign minister Sergei Martynov to a high-level EU meeting, breaking a four-year long taboo on contact with the eastern European dictatorship.

The Week Ahead – 8-14 September 2008

2008 September 7, Sunday

Europarl.europa.eu

Committee week - Brussels

MEPs to hold second plenary in Brussels

2008 September 4, Thursday

EUobserver.com

The European Parliament’s top administrative body - the bureau - on Wednesday (3 September) recommended MEPs hold a second unusual meeting in Brussels following the ceiling collapse in Strasbourg.

GEORGIA: EPP PARTY AND EPP-ED GROUP CONGRATULATE UNM FOR THE IMPRESSIVE ELECTION RESULT

2008 May 25, Sunday

EPP.EU

Wilfried Martens, the President of the largest translational party of Europe, and Joseph Daul, the Chairman of the largest political group in the European Parliament, have today congratulated the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his party for winning the parliamentary elections of 21 May.

Parliament approves aviation security overhaul

2008 March 12, Wednesday

Euractiv.com

Common EU rules for preventing terrorist attacks at airports and planes will enter into force within two years after MEPs approved a compromise with member states, despite misgivings over who should finance the new security measures.

Parliament vote boosts fight against maladministration

2008 March 11, Tuesday

Euractiv.com

Proposals to improve the European Ombudsman’s access to EU documents as a means of increasing transparency within the EU institutions were approved by MEPs on 10 March.

The issue of Hungarian Education in Moldova, Romania in front of European Parliament

2008 March 7, Friday

Csango.eu

Péter Olajos (MDF), Árpád Duka-Zólyomi (MKP), Kinga Gál (FIDESZ), Csaba Sógor (RMDSZ) and László Tőkés (independent) Members of the European Parliament have sent in a petition to the European Commission on the obstruction of the Hungarian language education and the intimidation of Csango-Hungarian pupils in Nagypatak (Valea Mare, Moldova, Romania).

EU parliament delegation declares Georgia elections ‘fair’

2008 January 7, Monday

TheParliament.com

A group of MEPs have given a guarded welcome to the outcome of Georgia’s presidential elections at the weekend.

Brussels likely to deal with Beneš decrees

2007 October 18, Thursday

Slovak Spectator

The largest faction in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party and the European Democrats, want the European Parliament to condemn the Slovak parliament’s declaration on the inviolability of the legal and proprietary consequences of the Beneš Decrees, the daily Hospodárske Noviny reported on October 16.

Belarusian opposition parties - EPP - Party of Hungarian Coalition - We stand united on common values. Árpád Duka-Zólyomi MEP

2006 March 20, Monday

Own press release

Member of the European Parliament Árpád Duka-Zólyomi during today’s plenary appealed to his colleagues to take a more concrete position regarding the political situation in Belarus.

Belarus - Lukashenka’s regime tries to make post-election protest impossible. Àrpád Duka Zólyomi MEP

2006 March 11, Saturday

Own press release

“Europe must recognise the lawlessness of the campaign conditions of the Belarus presidential elections scheduled for March 19 2006″, said Mr Árpád Duka-Zólyomi, Member of the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with Belarus and one of the few European observers at the Congress of Democratic Forces in Minsk on 1-2 October 2005.