Minister of State for European Union Affairs, Enikő Győri held talks with her Spanish and Belgian counterparts on the preparation of the European Council’s meeting in June; and the present state of the most important Presidency dossiers in Brussels on 23 May. Following the Trio’s discussion, the Minister of State invited Member State Ministers and Ministers of State for EU Affairs to an informal lunch.

We will stay as long as we are needed here, eu2011.hu was informed by the Hungarian Ambassador to Libya, Béla Marton, who coordinated the efforts to rescuing the journalists, two American, one British and one Spanish. The Hungarian mission represents the entire EU in Tripoli, a place where there is continuous shooting.

At the 20 May 2011 meeting in Brussels, education ministers reached a political agreement to reduce the number of early school leavers. Rózsa Hoffmann, Minister of State for Education of the Ministry of National Resources, told the press conference that the reduction of early school leavers is vital for implementing several major objectives, which are defined in the Europe 2020 Strategy.

At the 19 May 2011 meeting in Brussels, EU culture ministers reached a political agreement on raising the European Heritage Label to an EU level. Minister of State for Culture of the Ministry of National Resources, Géza Szőcs called the decision the common success of the Spanish–Belgian–Hungarian Presidency Trio.

During the 19 May 2011 meeting held in Gödöllő, territorial development ministers supported the new framework document, the Territorial Agenda until 2020 (TA2020), which was developed by the Hungarian Presidency. According to Minister for National Development, Tamás Fellegi, in this way Member States jointly laid the foundations of a new, territory-based regional policy that was built on local features.

The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council’s (EPSCO) extraordinary meeting, held in Brussels, on 19 May 2011, unanimously backed the EU’s Roma Framework Strategy. The Strategy will be discussed by two other Council formations, and it will finally be endorsed by the European Council in June.

The Presidency is making special efforts to encourage Member Statess to discuss the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Area, declared Foreign Minister, János Martonyi on 19 May 2011, after a talk in Budapest with his Romanian counterpart, Teodor Baconschi.