Attila Ágh, Tamás Kaiser, Boglárka Koller

Europeanization of the Danube Region: The Blue Ribbon Project

The first half of 2011 is likely to be an exceptionally important period for Hungarian foreign policy, as Hungary will hold the presidency of the European Union (EU) for the first time since the country’s accession. The single most important aspect of the country’s preparations for the presidency is defining its political priorities. The preparation and implementation of the presidency programme is, indeed, the responsibility of the incumbent government, however, the effective participation of other sectors and players, such as economic, cultural, scientific, civil, are indispensable. To that end, consultations and preparations regarding the priorities and main horizontal policy goals have been going on for years. In that respect, 2009 was already a rather dynamic year. The preparations have both a European and a national perspective. With regards to the European perspective, one must take into consideration the new institutional setting, namely that the rotating presidency, since 2007, has taken place within the framework of trio-presidencies. Therefore, Hungary is destined to a closer co-operation with the other two members of the presidency trio, Spain and Belgium.