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Success in a headwind

June 12th, 2011

On Friday (10 June) Croatia was given the go-ahead by the European Commission to join the European Union, and is likely to become the 28th member in 2013. “Zagreb’s success belongs to Budapest too,” writes Magyar Nemzet, “this represents a huge step towards reaching one of the main goals of the Hungarian EU Presidency.”

The pro-government daily believes that “this decision makes the whole region stronger,” and proves that “the West Balkans is no longer the despised orphan of the continent”.

“We have become accustomed to the ‘natural’ arrogance emanating from the super-power status of the Germans, the French and the British, but the Dutch campaign against eastern Europe is harder to explain,” adds Magyar Nemzet. The daily identifies the Netherlands as the country most actively campaigning to sabotage the enlargement process. The paper mentions that the Hungarian presidency’s other major goal (the Schengen enlargement to include Romania and Bulgaria) fell victim to the Hague’s “machinations”.

“This openly hostile attitude results in an increasingly low opinion of the EU among the eastern European public,” writes Magyar Nemzet, which also deplores recent attacks on the Hungarian media law and the new constitution.

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