Hungarian Council Presidency: What Do the Next Six Months Hold for Cooperatives?

On 1st July, Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union from its Belgian predecessor. This mandate comes at an extraordinary time: the next institutional cycle is about to start, and negotiations for the top jobs in the Commission are underway.

Unsurprisingly, the Hungarian Presidency has put migration and security issues at the top of its political agenda. However, another issue steals the spotlight in all chapters of its programme: competitiveness.

Following the publication of the Letta Report and the Council’s Strategic Agenda 2024-2029, EU leaders have announced a New European Competitiveness Deal, which the Presidency has reiterated in its programme. While it is still unclear what this will consist of, Hungary announced its intention to support SMEs and their resilience by working on support measures, burden reduction, and better regulation. Cooperatives Europe welcomes this focus as these priorities align with our advocacy work to streamline and simplify business legal and reporting requirements, especially in response to recent legislative files such as the Due Diligence Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

We are also pleased to see the high relevance of cohesion policy for the new Presidency, which will engage in a high-level strategic debate on its future, including its role in promoting competitiveness and employment. Cooperatives play a crucial role in territorial cohesion and socio-economic development, and we will emphasise this in our work on proximity economy over the next six months.

When it comes to enlargement policies, we are concerned that the Hungarian programme seems to focus on the Western Balkans only. We hope that the Presidency will provide a similar level of engagement and commitment to the Eastern Partnership as well. Cooperatives Europe will keep advocating for deeper cooperation and dialogue with that region, where many of our cooperative members conduct business, support job creation, and promote economic empowerment.

Finally, we deeply regret the absence of the social economy in this programme and the limited ambitions on the social side. The scope of most actions seems to be restricted to the social integration of people with disabilities and the circular economy only. The momentum created in 2021 by the Social Economy Action Plan must be maintained, as much remains to be done at the EU level to fully support SEOs and cooperatives equally in all Member States. We will continue our advocacy work in that regard and hope for continued political support in favour of a better, fairer, and more sustainable society.