24th March 2011
The Informal Environment Council taking place in Gödöllő on 25-26 March has an exciting agenda even if it doesn’t have a snappy title. This is for several reasons. The topics for discussion are water and climate policy – an appropriate combination from Hungary’s point of view. Because focusing on water issues seems to be able […]
13th March 2011
Clearly energy will be a prominent feature of our work in connection with Hungary’s EU Presidency throughout the spring. The Commission published its Low Carbon Roadmap on 8 March and UK diplomatic efforts are now focussed on raising Europe’s ambitions to build a low carbon economy. This effort is especially relevant in Central and Eastern […]
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10th March 2011 London, UK
http://youtu.be/DkRMwxLsowM I am visiting Denmark today; yesterday I was in the Netherlands. I’ve met with members of the Governments of both countries as well as business leaders and Parliamentarians. The UK has important bilateral political, economic and trade relationships with both the Netherlands and Denmark, and in my visits I’m keen to explore how we […]
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9th March 2011
The UK is strongly committed to the European Union’s enlargement process. And so on 9 March the UK’s Minister for Europe David Lidington will give a keynote speech on EU Enlargement in the Hague. We are not only convinced about the value of enlargement but have played a leading role in driving it through. We […]
11th February 2011
Presidency work at the British Embassy in Budapest is not confined to formal Presidency calendar events. We are also assisting with the intensive bilateral engagement of UK Ministers and senior officials with their Hungarian counterparts. Thanks to the heightened UK interest in all things Hungarian these days, these exchanges often go beyond immediate EU policy […]
21st January 2011
The British Government aims to be the “greenest ever”. So it is no surprise that in recent official meetings – and we have many more visitors to Budapest than usual as a result of Hungary’s EU Presidency – UK Ministers and officials have raised the subject of renewable energy and Hungary’s geothermal potential. Thermal waters […]
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18th January 2011
We are already well into the Hungarian Presidency, with Ministers and senior officials pouring in from other EU countries for Presidency meetings. In the last week we have had meetings of Europe Directors; Political Directors: and Europe Ministers for a GAC or General Affairs Council (all from Foreign Ministries); we are in the middle of […]
8th January 2011
Hungary is now officially Presidency of the Council of the European Union. I was present at a short and dignified ceremony on 6 January, in the spectacular Dome Hall of the Hungarian Parliament, when the Prime Minister of Belgium formally handed over this important function in the presence of a large audience of Ministers, officials, […]
5th January 2011
Well, for those of you who read my previous posting, I did get stuck in London when my plane was cancelled. I eventually made it back to Budapest on Tuesday with two of my children and a colleague – using a combination of taxis, train, ferry and a 16-hour drive from Calais in stormy weather conditions. […]
29th December 2010
The traditional and the modern are about to come together at beautiful Godollo Palace, the venue for most of the Ministerial meetings under the Hungarian EU Presidency. I had not been to the Palace for some 20 years, when it was in ruinous condition. But last Friday the diplomatic corps were invited by Foreign Minister […]