House Speaker László Kövér said the Hungarian parliament will continue to support the country's "southern and eastern neighbors participating in the European Union's enlargement process."

Addressing a meeting of parliamentary office chiefs of EU members, Kövér said Hungary's recent EU presidency had aimed to ensure that "the enlargement process remains objective and authentic, based on (candidates') merits". The Hungarian presidency, he said, had "managed to restart processes frozen for two and a half years, with special regard to Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia.

Among the achievements of the Hungarian presidency in the second half of last year, Kövér mentioned the Budapest Declaration, aimed at improving the community's competitiveness, and highlighted Romania's and Bulgaria's full Schengen membership, which he said was "the conclusion of a process of over 10 years."

Concerning Monday's meeting, Kövér said education programs aimed at sharing knowledge about democracy as well as forms of cooperation between EU parliaments and the assemblies of candidate countries were high on the agenda.

The next meeting of EU parliamentary speakers will also be held in Budapest, on May 11-12, Kövér said. The conference will focus on the national sovereignty of European countries as reflected in global politics as well as "the identity of European nations as a factor of competitiveness in the global economy," he added.