Pál SZEKERES

Policy topics Pál SZEKERES is active on

What Pál SZEKERES has said (21)

• 2026-02-18 “Answer given by Ms Lahbib on behalf of the European Commission 27.5.2026 Written question The Commission, through the strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030 is advancing to address the needs of persons with disabilities, including deaf persons. This Strategy will be further enhanced by an upcoming Communication. The Commission is committed to lead by example as a public administration. In 2024 and 2025, it provided International Sign at 60 press conferences and midday briefings and at 14 events [1] . The consultation process for the enhanced Strategy included different meetings with stakeholders, in which International Sign was available for providing feedback. However, as the open public consultation was done in writing format; hence it only sought written feedback. In this regard, it accommodated different accessibility needs by providing a standard and easy-to-read (ETR) form [2] to fill online, and offline with an accessible word document to send by email. ETR versions for the call for evidence and the Have Your Say data protection statement were also provided. Since 2022, the Commission has been updating and aligning its web presence to comply with the European accessibility standard EN 301 549, which does not require the provision of sign language as an alternative or complement to content in text or video . The Commission is nevertheless working on increasing the availability of International Sign in video. For example, the weekly College readout and the live broadcast of the President’s State of the Union include International Sign. [1] Including, for example, the Erasmus+ Sport Info Day or the European Day of Persons with Disabilities Conference. [2] The standard forms and the easy-to-read versions were provided in all EU languages.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility · Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• 2025-06-17 “E-002433/2025 Answer given by Mr Jørgensen on behalf of the European Commission In its Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 1 , the Commission recognises that accessible and inclusive housing is indispensable for decent living for persons with disabilities. In its Guidance on independent living, the Commission also called on Member States to promote and secure financing for accessible and disability-inclusive social housing and provided policy orientation 2 . The Cohesion policy funds are investing EUR 7,5 billion in 2021-2027 in the energy efficiency of housing stock and social housing, while ensuring accessibility for persons with disabilities 3 . Furthermore, on 1 April 2025, the Commission adopted a proposal 4 to enable Member States to increase their amounts in housing under the 2021-2027 Cohesion policy Funds. The Commission services also established a new model for financial instruments in affordable housing 5 . In addition, the Commission is working with the European Investment Bank, national promotional banks and international financial institutions on a new pan-European investment platform to attract more private and public investment for affordable and sustainable housing. The Commission will also put forward a European Affordable Housing Plan in 2026. During the development of this Plan, the Commission will carefully assess the aspects the Honourable Member raised. 1 https://op.europa.eu/publication-detail/-/publication/3e1e2228-7c97-11eb-9ac9-01aa75ed71a1. In addition, a number of EU acts are in place to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities in different areas and to support their implementation, European accessibility standards were also adopted. See in particular European Standard EN 17210 on the accessibility and usability of the built environment (https://accessible-eucentre.ec.europa.eu/content-corner/digital-library/en-172102021-accessibility-and-usability-built-environmentfunctional-requirements_en), and European Standard EN 17161:2019 on a Design for All approach (https://accessible-eu-centre.ec.europa.eu/content-corner/digital-library/en-171612019-design-all-accessibilityfollowing-design-all-approach-products-goods-and-services_en), both under revision following the adoption by the Commission of mandate M/587. 2 Commission Notice – Guidance on independent living and inclusion in the community of persons with disabilities in the context of EU funding; C/2024/7897, OJ C, C/2024/7188, 29.11.2024; https://eurlex.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/7188/oj/eng. 3 In line with Recital 6 and Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=legissum:4536652. 4 Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1058 and (EU) 2021/1056 as regards specific measures to address strategic challenges in the context of the mid-term review (https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/communication/mid-term-review2025/regulation-proposal-mid-term-review-2025_en.pdf). 5 https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/communication/mid-term-review-2025/swd-affordable-housing2025_en.pdf.”
  Energy performance of buildings · EU housing policy · EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• 2025-06-11 “P-002354/2025 Answer given by Mr Dombrovskis on behalf of the European Commission 1. The provisional agreement on a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013, defines the population according to the concept of usual residence. 2. A person’s place of usual residence is the place where the person has lived, or intends to live, for a continuous period of at least 12 months. The usually resident population is composed of all persons, regardless of citizenship, country of birth or immigration status, who have their place of usual residence in the country, region or municipality at the reference date. The upcoming population and housing census to be implemented in Member States in 2031 will apply the same definition of usual residence. Migrants and refugees are to be included if they fulfil the 12-month residence criteria. 3. As regards the policy effects, this piece of legislation provides for all population statistics to be based on a common population base, covering the entire population and following a harmonised methodology. This would lead to more accurate and comparable population figures across Member States, thus supporting evidence-based policy making.”
  EU strategy on population growth · Legal migration
• 2025-04-02 “E-001342/2025 Answer given by Ms Lahbib on behalf of the European Commission The aim of the implementing act/s, provided for by Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2024/2841, is to ensure the digitalisation of the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities. The Commission intends to adopt one implementing act, likely during the first half of 2026. It can contain provisions to set the accessible digital versions of both cards, with the data fields set out in Annexes I and II respectively, and to ensure interoperability. It can also establish common technical specifications regarding the storage medium of the digital version of both cards for matters such as verifying the validity of both cards and their serial or file number, for controlling their authenticity, for preventing forgery and fraud, for the reading of those cards between Member States, and for their use in a digital identity wallet at EU level. As per Article 20 of Directive (EU) 2024/2841, a report on the Directive's application shall be submitted by 2031 and every four years thereafter, to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, with input from Member States and stakeholders. The Commission will support Member States in the transposition process and will monitor the timely and correct transposition of the directives.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• 2025-02-05 “E-000499/2025 Answer given by Ms Lahbib on behalf of the European Commission In its answers to written questions E-001876/2019 1 , E-003446/2019 2 , E-005238/2020/rev.1 3 , and P-003875/2022 4 , the Commission outlined that the legal status of languages in each national legal order is a matter falling under national competence. Apart from the implementation of EU law, it is for Member States to ensure compliance with fundamental rights in accordance with their constitutional order and their obligations under international law. As parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, they are bound by the provisions on sign language contained therein. Regulation 1/58 5 lists all the official languages and the working languages of the institutions of the Union; sign languages are not included. That Regulation is adopted by the Council, acting unanimously and without a Commission proposal, on the basis of Article 342 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 6 . The Commission is taking steps to reinforce the availability of international sign interpreters for EU conferences and meetings. In the Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030 7 , it committed to increase the accessibility of audiovisual communications and publications as well as interpretation in international sign language. Each institution is competent for the provision of sign language interpretation. The interpretation service of the Commission provides sign language interpretation into and from international sign in meetings and conferences where this service is requested by the meeting organiser and according to the needs of the participants. To the best of its ability, the interpretation service also provides interpretation into and from national sign languages if specific requests are made in this sense. 1 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/-ASW_EN.html 2 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/-ASW_EN.html 3 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/-ASW_EN.html 4 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-9-2022-003875-ASW_EN.html 5 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01958R0001-20130701 6 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/treaty/tfeu_2016/art_342/oj/eng 7 For more information, please see: https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/policies/justice-andfundamental-rights/disability/union-equality-strategy-rights-persons-disabilities-2021-2030_en”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “Thank you. Thank you, Vice President. Dear Commissioner. Isaac Asimov's robot is very relevant today. Digitization provides us with an opportunity to increase efficiency, but technology should not stand above people. Once again, the left is trying to impose new bureaucratic burdens on small and medium sized businesses. But what we need is ethical regulations. We need to know in advance how we are going to shape AI so that it reflects European values. We need not only digital skills, but also ethical values. We need a moral anchor from childhood onwards.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Madam president. Dear Commissioner, I would like to speak in Hungarian, and I'm speaking from number 42. Are we serious? We are debating whether to spend 6 or €20 billion on all the poor children in Europe, while we are planning to spend more than €1 billion on war. We can only properly pay attention to the most vulnerable in times of peace. Then, second, in the fight against poverty, we do not need any abstract ideologies. We need proven national models that are successful. This is why the Patriots alternative strategy focuses on what the Hungarian and Italian governments are doing, because we have already shown what should be done. And I can share the recipe with you. Number one, families and work must be at the center of government policy. Number two, the vicious cycle of poverty can only be broken by jobs that provide a stable livelihood. Number three, child poverty decreases if parents have more money. For this reason, mothers of two or more children do not pay personal income tax in Hungary and similarly to Hungarian practices, young people should receive help to obtain their own homes. And finally, we need to ensure that everyone can heat their homes at an affordable price. And in Hungary, utility price reductions and home renovation subsidies also help with this, and I would like to add something in four minutes. Everybody was mentioned by the rapporteur, but the people living with disabilities were left out. I hope that in the end this will be corrected. Thank you.”
  Child poverty policy
• “Thank you very much, Commissioner. Madam chair, dear colleagues, I think we all agree that a strong European economy with high employment and cheap energy prices will help people access affordable housing to everyone. I have two questions on that point, don't you think, Commissioner, that, uh, a widespread, uh, rental help to people could distort the housing market and lead to an increase in property prices? The other thing, the other question is, what kind of measures do you have in mind so that, uh, couples, uh, pensioners or people with disability have, uh, a priority over illegal migrants?”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you very much, Madam Chair. We've looked at this issue and today and we've heard several different approaches and solutions to it. I'd like to, um, talk about a Hungarian example of how to deal with the issue. So we have a housing program where we can have fixed 3% fixed mortgage rates for people who want to buy homes. There are several conditions for this. Um, but this is for people who want to build a family. Now, obviously there are other issues, other ways of approaching the problem. There can be assistance with rental prices. I think that what we need to really do is come together and think about how to deal with this, obviously, that certain member states have difficulties, but I think what is absolutely key is to avoid solutions that we saw in the communist systems. We don't want to see methods in democratic systems that were seen in those difficult times of communism, as certain colleagues would like to see. Thank you.”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you very much for giving me the floor, Madam Chair. This is an absolutely crucial issue that we're talking about here, because a society can work properly if there are enough taxpayers and if enough children are being born. Therefore, I believe that these four points and four things that have been raised on the last slide are absolutely key. Talking about quality jobs, improving training, education. Another fundamental issue is that the population has only increased in countries where we've seen significant immigration. And this is because the birth rate is very low. In 2023, the birth rate was 1.38 across the 27 member states. Two is reproduction rate. In Hungary, it was the third highest in Europe. So I think what is most important is that we have as many children being born as possible, not just because being a mother or a father is something amazing, but because it is also in the national interest for each member state. And Now you can see that I myself am in a wheelchair. I'm 61 years old and on behalf of older people and people with disabilities, I can talk quite personally about this. I think that if there are shortages on the labour market, then let's look at where those resources resources can come from. And if we look at disabled workers or older people, older workers in many countries, we could see far more a lot of improvement in that regard. Thank you very much for all of your presentations. And I have to say, I agree with much of what has been said. Thank you.”
  EU strategy on population growth
• “Madam ombudsperson, dear colleagues, this report really should be about what the ombudsperson has done with her team for the citizens of Europe. Transparency, accountability and the fair functioning of our institutions. That's what it should be about. But that's why it is really difficult to accept or understand, for instance, the contribution of the speaker just before me, because the left liberal side seems to think that they need to apply some kind of cordon sanitaire to my political community. I actually think that this is neither the time nor the place. This is not an ideological debate. You know, an ideological debate would not strengthen democracy. It actually would undermine it. Weaken it. I welcome the fact that we have this report before us, and I'm glad to see that things are going in the right direction. What we have before us is a balanced report, and it doesn't carry any ideological overtones, I welcome that. The Patriots group has an approach which is very simple. We want less ideology and we want more professionalism. Petitions, I think, clearly demonstrate what it is that concerned citizens are concerned about.”
  Activities of EU Ombudsman
• “Thank you very much. I'd also like to speak in my native language, Hungarian. I'd like to thank you, Mr. Juncker, for coming here for a second time to present this issue. If I understand correctly, since 2001, there has been an agreement on cooperation between the EPPO between since 2021. So there's been an agreement between the Hungarian prosecutor and EPPO. So there's work going on there. And the cooperation is very good. I'd like to ask you, of the countries that have joined the EPPO, are there any that are not very active or that cooperate less than Hungary, for example? That's a very important question because this it's not compulsory to join the EPPO. So effective cooperation is a very important pillar of this whole system. Thank you.”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• “Thank you so much. Uh chair. Um, dear colleagues, over the past few years, we have seen controversial studies contradicting one another as to how to what extent am I. I will replace human work now to some extent, obviously. Um, uh, some focus on the number of jobs replaced by AI, or how jobs will change, or how new jobs will come up. Now, it's not clear to me from this report based on which, um, model it was made, because we should be able to foresee and predict labour market trends so that we are in a good position to support economic growth. Uh, the regular programming of AI. There are clear ethical aspects as well. It's clear that decisions will be made by AI, either for us or instead of us. Now, based on what values based on what ideology this will happen, what are what's the common ground we can agree in? Uh, are there any values based on which we can be different? We can diverge. People live according to different values and religious beliefs. Um. Now question is, will this diversity be maintained or based on what principles will programmers work? And thirdly, what I miss is that the report is talking about acquiring new skills, but is not answering to an urgent problem in today losing skills. Now, we haven't been mentioning this regarding the use of mobile phones that our youth is in danger at risk. Um, I'm talking about an excessive use of the online space now with AI appearing will put our youth even at even more risk. Uh, because they already use AI to to learn and study. But then we are running the risk. If, you know, um, whether they will be able to, um, put together the text without using AI. Um, so that might be a popular disease, and we need to come up with an answer to that. What do we suggest to the commission? Well, it's a great opportunity with great risks. It's a means, a great responsibility because we need to consider other aspects. Aspects other than competitiveness.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “It's basically holding up a mirror to the rest of us. People want greater accountability, transparency. They want stronger legal certainty as well. They also want more peace. They want less red tape and they want more common sense. So the message is clear from our citizens. They want less political messaging and more real work for the benefit of our European citizens. There's no alternative to peace. Ladies and gentlemen. And that is why the union really should focus on its citizens. That is what should be centre stage on the 15th of March in Budapest. There's going to be a big peace demonstration. And I'll be curious to see how many of my fellow colleagues from the Liberal left side will actually attend that peace demonstration, particularly those who attended another demonstration. Like I said, there is no alternative to to peace. I thank the ombudsperson for for her report. I welcome the work done by Mrs. O'Reilly, and I welcome also the work that is to be done by Mrs. Angina. Thank you very much for your correct approach. Thank you.”
  Activities of EU Ombudsman
• “Thank you for your question. Well, I think one thing is obvious. If we want to see a Europe that works really well where there's enough support for the vulnerable groups in society, then we need a strong economy. And the inflation generated by the war weakens this situation, and the European economy is at a disadvantage because of several reasons. Partly the Green Deal that you have mentioned. I think we need to think again about the green transition, and we need to support the European economy so that we have enough money to support measures that we are talking about just now. Thank you.”
  Climate efforts
• “Thank you. I'm going to speak Hungarian. We'd like to thank you very much for the very valuable presentations. Housing is important, but also the restoration of old buildings is important. You need to make them energy efficient. You need to modernize them and greening. However, having said all of this is not necessarily the thing that should be at the forefront. We need to thereby make sure that burdens are taken off people. It's quite a challenge when you have to renovate an old house, because the people that live there can't afford it. And the new legislative requirements may not be ones that they can adhere to. So that is something that needs to be supported. People who live in inappropriate housing, um, there, they need support and it might be through SMEs, local SMEs that are doing a lot of this work. Uh, the bigger companies tend to be more interested in building the large scale housing plans.”
  Energy performance of buildings
• “Thank you very much. President. Madam Commissioner, in Hungary, there are now 1 million more people in work than in 2010. Protecting workers health and lives is a fundamental duty in a work based society, and this is why we've taken concrete steps over the past few years. We have increased fines for employers, especially in cases of serious or fatal accidents. We have introduced stricter rules for the investigation and reporting of workplace accidents, and in doing so, we ensure that the lessons learned can be built into prevention. And Hungarian public procurement rules are very clear. If you breach worker protection rules, you cannot access public funds. It's important to inform employees about health and safety regulations as well, especially in high risk sectors such as construction. We can only guarantee fair competition and protect workers properly if we combine prevention, digital transparency and modern inspection tools. Thank you very much.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Thank you. It's a very important topic and I'd like to thank everybody for their contributions. I think we're all very much aware of the problem, but it might well be that we don't share the same opinions on solutions. It's clear that protecting children is a very important area, not just in terms of technology. It's also a question of morality, humanity, humanity and public health. I've participated in events where I've seen the outcomes of the impact of children, of digital environments, and the problems that can be caused for them. Now, of course, we need to act. We, the Patriots, firmly believe that this is a matter that is multidimensional. It is families who are bearing the brunt of this, and we need to consider it according to our own views and values. But we can't put profits before the interests of children. And the big platforms also need to recognise their own huge responsibility. It's a moral question and the. Tools that we have digital slides, for example, can be used in education. But the fundamental thing is we need to protect our children. Otherwise digital environments will distort their personalities, not just their present, but their future as well. So we need to make sure that the solutions that we are suggesting in good faith not actually create more problems. We cannot, uh, work against freedom of expression. For example, now we agree that there should be a right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we needed to identify those acts that are illegal, such as cyber harassment. We need more attention focused on this.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Mr. secretary thank you very much chairman. I'll also be speaking in Hungarian. I'd like to thank you both for your presentations this afternoon. There are two aspects to this, to this meeting. We have the technical aspects about joining the EPPO and how we've heard that the cooperation with Hungary is effective and good. And there are some countries that have joined and that of those there are some that are less active than hungry. And I'd like you to confirm that. That's addressed to both speakers. And then on the second issue. In Hungary. We've had once again a party political opinions. We will have elections soon in Hungary. And people think that if they speak loudly and if they speak using strong words, then this will help them towards the elections. I'm not going to repeat what I heard off mic from my colleague, because that wouldn't be fair. But I would like to say that. Here. One speaker Can't used opposition propaganda under the guise of being an expert, and there were several. There were several things mentioned that were supposed to be facts, but were not actually. For example, hearing about research and we had falsified information.”
  Rule of law in Hungary
• “We also know your links to the opposition and also link to USAID and George Soros, and we know the links that exist there between them and your organization. So how can I actually know whether the information and data that you provided is right or not? So that's a problem for me. I'm not able to see whether that's true or not. I think it's very important that we should not take biased opinions as facts. So I can only take the information you provided as an opinion. And it's quite surprising. I have to say that the activities of the previous government were not mentioned whatsoever by you and. Individuals in that government. I don't think that's right. And I agree that if there are corruption cases that are against the law, then there should be legal repercussions for that. And that goes for any country, including Hungary. But in Hungary we have a state governed by the rule of law. And if things happen in breach of the law, there should be legal consequences. And if there are perhaps immoral actions, then there should be political consequences for that. Thank you.”
  Rule of law in Hungary
• “Thank you. I concluded my ideas in the previous round, but I'd like to express my, uh, support to Mr. Winkler and Mr. Deutsch. I think something should be done here. And 1 million. More than 1 million signature talks for themselves. What we have managed to sustain for centuries and millennia is endangered. Now, that is our cultural and linguistic diversity. I think we have to take action and use positive discrimination to retain these values. I think we are on the 24th hour now, so we have to act.”
  EU and national cultural identities