It is a tradition of the Dutch-Hungarian parliamentary diplomacy that the president of the Dutch Senate and the speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly visit each other every second year. This year, on the invitation of Mr. László Kövér, speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly President Ankie Broekers-Knol visited – already the second time since 2013 – Hungary between 4-6 October.
In Budapest Madame President met Mr. László Kövér Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Mr. László Trócsányi, Minister of Justice; Mr. Péter Darák, President of the Curia and the members of the Parliament’s Hungary-Netherlands Friendship Group.
Madame President also visited Debrecen where she viewed the Galley Slaves' Memorial Column, erected in honour of Admiral de Ruyter, and met Bishop Károly Fekete, Vice-Chairman of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary. In Sárospatak Madame President was received by Mr. Richárd Hörcsik, Chairman of the Parliament’s EU affairs committee.
After his meeting with Madame President, Mr. Kövér emphasized that Hungary and the Netherlands are strategic partners, which is also clearly reflected in our active economic relations. Moreover, Mr. Kövér pointed out that one of the priorities of the Hungarian V4 presidency is to enhance the parliamentary cooperation of the Visegrád countries, for which we consider the cooperation of the Benelux countries an excellent model. Besides emphasizing the relevance of the parliamentary diplomacy, Ms. Broekers-Knol welcomed the strength of the centuries-long Dutch-Hungarian relations and stressed the importance of understanding each other’s history.
The discussion of Ms. Brokers-Knol and Minister of Justice Trócsányi focused on the effective implementation of the principles of rule of law, while Madame President and Mr. Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade exchanged views on the most important foreign policy dossiers.
