In short:

The new Hungarian Commissioner Peter Balázs foresees that Hungary may also have to limit the influx of workers from neighbours like Poland and thinks that less money should be spent on interpretation in the EU's post-enlargement budget.

 

First of all, congratulations on your nomination. Several sources say that you might be covering regional policy in a team with Michel Barnier. Is this a fact or just idle speculation?

No, there are rumours about it, but so far we know more or less the basic idea of twinning new and old Commissioners and there is a more or less final list of those ten Commissioners in the current Commission who would be prepared and ready to take on board one of the new. But the distribution or the pairs are not yet known. There were some attempts, some preliminary talks but we are now in the hands of President Prodi. And the whole system should be worked out because it is easy to say that they would work together but it is difficult to implement. What is the principle of division of labour? Who does what? Is the old one a chief and the new one a subordinate? Or do they take half and half of the same portfolio? Or is the new one just an observer? So there are quite a number of open questions.

Has the question of voting rights been decided?

Yes, in the Commission as a college, the new Commissioners will take the decisions collectively. But the portfolio issue for the remaining short time is still an open question.

In general terms, in the first six months what do you wish to achieve?

To learn, first, how it works, to take an active part in the common work and to express my views on the various dossiers that will be on the agenda of the Commission meetings.

You have an extensive background in dealing with the EU and you were involved in Hungary's EU integration process and partly in the accession negotiations. What has been the most interesting task in Hungary's EU accession process in which you have taken part?

I would say the European Convention. I used to be the government representative. It was the most interesting experience of my life in connection with the European Union. For several reasons, first, because the challenge was very important to shape a new Constitutional Treaty, the composition of the Convention was really inspiring: old and new, governments and parliaments, European Parliament and Commission together. It was creative work and very interesting. And very good preparation for my subsequent jobs as a permanent representative now and as a future Commissioner.

Are you disappointed at the failure of the December summit?

Well, we did not have our Christmas present in the form of a new Constitution but it was maybe a somewhat exaggerated expectation after two and a half months to hope for a final decision. It is not so easy. For me it was not a failure at all. It was a stop.

You see, the Convention was a creative process collecting ideas in the first six months. Then, in the second phase, working in working groups, shaping some dispositions and, in the final phase, discussing such issues. It was, as defined by the Thessaloniki summit, a good basis and nothing more. It was not ready cooked. It was a starting document so nobody could really accept it and approve it as it was. It was not ready for signing - it was ready for discussing.

When would you expect an agreement on the Constitution?

I am a very optimistic person and I hope that this year. With a lot of optimism. Being part of the college of Commissioners and being Hungarian. How will you reconcile the differences between the two roles?

Of course I have known for many years the functioning of the European Union so it is perfectly clear to me what the role of the Commission and a Commissioner and the responsibilities/limits to his/her actions. The Commissioner has to represent Union interests and nothing else. The Commission is composed of one national per Member State - very good so. Because that means that the culture, the thinking, the knowledge of every Member State is present in that common work. For me, this is "white". I explain: if you start turning the seven colours of the rainbow very fast, you get white. The 'colours' of the nations give the 'colour' of the Union. And my perception of this role is to take part in the common work having in mind the interest of the Union with my Hungarian brain. We invented the Rubik's cube (the toy), we have another way of thinking, we have a different approach (year, month, day). We see things from another angle - this is our contribution.

Can you think of a concrete situation where this could have a particular impact?

I have had many experiences with my academic hat in discussions. And it turned out that we have another vision sometimes of the same things and when we unite our different visions then it gives a good final result. So this can be a contribution. And each and every country can bring something specific. And there is another role which will be very important in the first years of enlargement to transmit the Union objectives and interests to my countrymen. And this will be a specific role to tell in good Hungarian what the Union is about. It is the same for all the other new Commissioners to go to the countryside and explain in own language the benefits of, for example, the Common Agricultural Policy. It is more credible if someone who knows the country and knows the language explains it.

What do the Hungarians need to understand most urgently about the EU?

In my mind, most Hungarians know quite a lot about the EU according to their role. An entrepreneur knows more or less what to know or what he should know. They have some fears and they should be calmed. They fear overregulation, far too many rules. So they should be convinced that either those rules are either useful, or those that are not very useful will be simplified or abolished very soon. But this is the intention of the EU; it was one of the objectives of the Convention, to make it simpler and bring it closer to the citizens. There are some other fears that in the large area, there will be price increases or the invasion of the Hungarian labour market by foreigners - we have a very low unemployment rate, much lower than the Union, so we can fear the 'invasion' by some people.

Who do you think would come and work in your country?

First of all, maybe Poles, Slovaks. We are not afraid because in some cases some important foreign investments could not take place because there was no workforce available. We were losing especially in the well-developed western region. Because investors did not want to go further, to Eastern Hungary, now they will. They will take another vision after EU accession. So far they came across the borders of the EU but not far away. We have had some big problems with new investors in the triangle between Vienna, Budapest and the Lake Balaton (eg Székesfehérvár, Pápa, Gyõr). They could not extend Audi or Siemens - they could not extend their activities. They went around in the villages proposing free transport and there was just no available workforce. They tried to mobilise people in eastern Hungary and they did not want to move.

Is Hungary considering any safeguard measures?

Not for the time being. But if I consider the fact that more and more old EU members are limiting the access of new workforce from the new Member States to their labour markets then the next consequence is that Poland with 18 per cent of unemployment, Slovakia with a similarly high percentage - where could they go? Instead of Sweden or Germany they will turn to other markets, eg Hungary.

If you have a shortage of labour, you should be happy?

The problem presents itself according to specific jobs. Germany would like to invite IT specialists but not industry workers. We have enough people for the building industry. Maybe we will need well-trained workers for new car factories of cars or electronic devices but not unskilled labour at a very low level.

You think that you could be faced with a situation where you have to negotiate a deal where Hungary could introduce such limitations?

We do not have to negotiate it - we have already negotiated it. As the EU Member States, we are also entitled under the Treaty of Accession to introduce the very same safeguard measures (2+3+2 years against any Member State of the EU-25). They are symmetrical.

For clarification, what is the unemployment rate in Hungary?

It is just above 5 per cent.

One of the important discussions currently taking place is on the next budget or "financial perspectives" of the EU. What do you see as policy priorities for the next Commission as reflected in the next budget?

To save some money on maybe administration, legislation, translation...

Would you like to downgrade translation?

Of course we insist on the political equality of languages but we are very much used to learning foreign languages. So we are very open to limiting national languages to the working level. People in Hungary start as a very small child learning foreign languages - and the Finns are in a very similar situation. It is very interesting to see that on a recent occasion there were only two ministers who did not make use of the facilities and preferred to speak English in spite of the fact that the interpreters' booth was there: the Hungarian and Finnish foreign ministers. Maybe because we have a bad feeling if we are not understood. I personally do not like to speak Hungarian loudly in a room if nobody understands Hungarian. I find it ridiculous. Who am I speaking to? I want to be understood. So I make an effort.

I have a great respect for other languages - I find it a great value of Europe - but in order to make our work more efficient, we should be reasonable. And if our people are able to speak English and French in NATO, at the OECD, United Nations, etc, why not make it simpler in the EU? With the new members there will be a fantastic confusion of languages.

In addition to saving money on translation, I would add, with some reservation, agriculture. It is of course highly conditional on how and what. But overall agriculture is absorbing too much money. We could then use this money for more structural and cohesion funds. In order to enable the functioning of the single market, we should equalise the chances. And this is not only about the new members but also about the new neighbours. If we do not want very big gaps on the external borders of the EU between, eg Poland and Ukraine etc, then this transfer of money should be extended to the border regions. 'Wider Europe' with a reasonable financing is in the interests of Europe.

In view of the transition measures and safeguards do you think in the end Hungary will join as a "full" member?

I would not say there are too many transition periods. They were hugely reduced in the last phase of negotiations. Only in very specific cases where there was a reason to introduce them. There is no doubt whatsoever about the quality of membership. It is definitely no worse than the Portuguese or the Greek or any other previous accessions. These are foreseeable measures, programmed measures. So how do you feel about the fact that two years ago only Austria and Germany wanted to have transition periods on labour mobility and now it seems like everybody wants some restrictions.

What sort of a feeling does that leave you with as a newcomer?

Well, it is not really a problem in Hungary. We do not really have a mobile workforce that would like to go abroad. It can create some feeling of fear in Western Europe but, finally, you can understand that there are some preliminary fears. We often proposed during the accession negotiations some monitoring measures - let us see what is happening and let us take measures afterwards because these are hypotheses of 'what if' something happens.

You have mentioned that no decision has been taken on the portfolio that Hungary will be in charge of during the transitional six months of the Commission. There have been rumours that regional policy could be an area Hungary would be interested in. Could you tell us more about the portfolios Hungary is interested in?

First we should see the composition of the new Commission, the President of the new Commission. There will be a very new approach of dividing the work and finding something for everybody. This is an optimalisation game - who is the best for each policy area. Of course, I could give you quite a list of what could be of interest to Hungary. Regional policy is one of the areas that would be of interest to Hungary because we are going to be exposed to difference both inside and outside our borders - and I have already given the reasons why it would be reasonable to avoid big gaps. Then, of course, we are interested in everything that is connected with external borders, agriculture, which is interesting for Hungary but it will be covered most likely by a Commissioner coming from a big old Member State. External action could also be of interest.

Coming back to the composition of the Commission, would you argue that the President of the Commission should come from one of the ten new countries?

I do not see a candidate.

Could we have your reaction to this week's debate in the EPP group to exclude communists from Parliaments political groups?

I was a bit surprised about this discussion because we had a similar discussion roughly 15 years ago. And it was a really important and topical question after the fall of Communism. Old sins, the roles of people, who did what and who should be permitted to play a role in a new and open democracy. We had a very big discussion.

There is a moral answer to this question which is better than any legal answer because if you try to find a legal answer to take a law that all those are excluded who... and then you come to a point when you have to define who an 'old communist' is - what age, what role...

Are you an 'old Communist'?

I do not think I am an 'old Communist'. I am old but not a Communist. I have never been, I belong to the left, my heart, my thinking, my vision of the world, but then we should first take a piece of paper and define what is a 'Communist'. It is so easy to say 'Communist countries'. Which one was really a Communist country? Maybe the Soviet Union. These were very special one party systems but then it is extremely difficult to define that party. One of the big masters of our transition, Imre Pozsgay, said that 'believe us, in our one party there were more colours than in the whole British Parliament'. Everything was inside that one party. So party membership really does not say anything. We have ex-party members in all the parties in and outside the Hungarian Parliament nowadays. So it really has no meaning.

Regarding the leading role and who did what. Who worked on opening the country towards the West? Who prepared our membership to the GATT back in 1973? So the moral answer was the following: let us make things public, let us open the archives, all the secret reports. Let the public know everything about everybody. One of the big topics was not about Communists but secret agents who reported about their neighbours and colleagues - this was a much more important issue. For example one of the extreme right politicians in Hungary confessed to having been a secret agent. Yet people elected him as most of the anti-communist leaders know. Because he said he was obliged, he did not really report, and so on. So I believe that the only way is to open files and let the people decide.

But this was an old debate - we have already forgotten it. In the fifteen years that have passed we have had several elections. When people vote in June for the 24 seats allocated for Hungarian MEPs nobody can question the result of the elections.

We have talked about the budget prioritites of the EU for the years to come. But if we are speaking on policy terms what would you like to see the Commission achieve in the next five years?

Well, to digest enlargement, to function with the 25 smoothly. To achieve the goals of the Lisbon strategy and become competitive in the world. And my third wish would be to play a real role in the world and speak with one voice.

Are you optimistic about your last wish?

A little bit. The unification of the three pillars and the proposal in the Constitutional Treaty for a unique legal personality and inviting the double-hatted Foreign Minister are steps in the right direction. There should be more joint EU representations in remote countries, a lot of joint actions, strategic thinking with China, Russia and the US and other big partners so there are plenty of things that could be done so why not try.