| Takacs, state secretary for EU Affairs in the Prime Minister’s Office attends an interview with Reuters in Budapest |
Creating a two-speed Europe with deep divisions between core eurozone and periphery states could be the end of the European Union in its present form, a senior Hungarian government official said.
Szabolcs Takacs, state secretary for EU Affairs in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Office, said that Brussels should instead strive to strengthen cooperation among member states in individual areas.
The EU should also speed up access talks with Serbia and Montenegro to prevent a destabilisation of the western Balkans, Takacs added.
“A two-speed Europe I think is simply not viable because it might mean such a deep division that eventually it would be … the end of the EU in its present form,” Takacs told Reuters in an interview.
“We can set up a kind of matrix of different (areas of) strengthened cooperation with the overarching goal and principle being competitiveness.”
The European prosecutor’s office, which Hungary along with some other states had opted not to join, was a good example of the way to go, Takacs said.
Central European member states have voiced concerns over the idea of “multi-speed” Europe, which is gaining growing support in Germany, France and other EU countries following Britain’s vote to leave the bloc.
Poland and Hungary with their nationalist-minded governments both want to curb the power of Brussels institutions and preserve national sovereignty in more areas.
Prague has also said there should be no splitting of Europe into two groups of countries with different integration levels, while Slovakia — which is a member of the eurozone — said it supported closer integration.
Takacs said central Europe with its solid economic growth and fiscal discipline, presented “added value” to the EU.
“They might not like our position on relocation (quotas) but let’s try and not to talk about only relocation,” he said, referring to legal cases which the EU’s executive may open against three eastern members for failing to take in asylum-seekers.
Takacs also said the EU should speed up accession talks with Serbia and Montenegro.
“If you don’t stabilise the western Balkans then somebody else will stabilise it. Or rather destabilise it,” he said.
“It is not Russia only, if you look at the region you can see many other players there: Turkey, Saudi-Arabia, Qatar, China … there are many countries which are trying to exercise more influence,” he said.