The European Litter Prevention Association

Priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of EU27 governments

11 July 2024
As of 1 July 2024, the Hungarian government will assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU27 governments) for six months, until December 2024. Each presidency sees the leading country act as an honest broker in negotiations among Member States to reach common positions on draft legislation. The presiding country also represents all EU27 governments in negotiations with other EU institutions (the European Parliament and the European Commission) to finalize draft texts before they become law. Concurrently, the presiding country sets the policy priorities it will focus on to advance pending legislative work.

For Hungary, these priorities differ significantly from those of the previous Belgian presidency, reflecting the policy orientations of a right-wing European Parliament (see here). Growth, competition, defense, and migration are at the forefront of Hungary’s policy agenda. Budapest aims to develop a New European Competitiveness Deal, emphasizing resilience and global competitiveness for the European economy. This approach is likely to impact the implementation of the Green Deal, with a focus on reducing environmental requirements for farmers and cutting red tape for businesses.

In the realm of climate and environmental protection, the Hungarian Presidency has outlined the following objectives:

  • Preparation of the European position on the upcoming UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29)
  • Organisation of international events which will deal with the preservation of biodiversity (e.g. representing EU and Member States to the COP16 on the Convention on Biological Diversity)
  • Kickstarting the interinstitutional negotiations on ongoing legislative work (e.g. Waste Framework Directive partial revision on food waste and textiles and Green Claims Directive)


Given that the European Parliament will only be fully operational in Q4 of 2024, there will be limited progress on pending legislative files.

The Secretariat will keep you informed for any updates on this issue.