Michael McGowan: Brave spirit of nation now at heart of Europe

Hungary is now determined to make its mark on the European Union after taking over the hot seat of the six month rotating presidency of the EU – until June – and there is no doubt that the EU is desperately in need of a brave and inspirational boost.

The European Union entered 2011 with the future of the euro currency and the very existence of the EU being questioned, so it has to be asked if the country of 10 million people which straddles the Danube and joined the EU in 2004 is up to the task posed by these historic challenges.

Although the rotating presidency of the EU has less influence since the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, it provides Hungary with the special opportunity to influence the European agenda by pursuing the Eastern enlargement of the EU, the accession to the EU of Croatia and reminding the rest of Europe of the country's experience and culture.

The Hungarian Rising of 1956 was brutally crushed by the Soviet Union and the leader of the uprising, Imre Nagy, was first sent into exile in Romania and then brought back to Hungary where he was executed. And communists across the world left the party in protest. Hungary alone, with only 10 million people, faced the Soviet Union with its population of 200 million-plus and 1956 was also the year of Suez – a distraction for the West, which also feared that opposing the Soviet Union could lead to world war.

Hungary suffered under the dictatorships of both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and was heavily bombed by the Allies during its "liberation" in the Second World War when 300 bombs hit Budapest and all the bridges across the Danube were destroyed. Today the country sees its membership of the EU as a step forward on the road to political democracy and its presidency of the EU as a unique chance to draw attention to its contribution to European history, politics, and sport.

During the EU presidency Hungary intends to boost its tourist industry and expects an increase in turnover of up to 30 per cent at its major hotels. And no doubt as the weather improves our celebrities will be heading for the Danube in droves, along the well- trodden path graced by Blair, Bush, Putin, the Rolling Stones and Sophia Loren, with the luxury Four Seasons Hotel in Budapest always a pull for the stars.

The country has the chance to place itself at the centre of European attention during the presidency but the likelihood of Hungary taking the EU by storm, as the legendary Puskas took European soccer by storm in 1953, appears remote.

The recent downgrading by the ratings agency, Moodys, of the country's credit rating has come at a bad time as it takes over the EU presidency.

It has become the subject of much concern that the centre right Fidesz party, elected to government in April 2010, is being questioned both at home and internationally by the EU and IMF about its competence and credibility.

In conversation in the popular Mathias restaurant in central Budapest – named after the former King of Hungary, Mathias the Just – during my recent visit, I heard dissatisfaction and anger with the government.

The decision to switch the country's private pension funds of teachers and other public servants into state control, the ignoring of the official Fiscal Council of finance experts and interference with the freedom of the press has been described as a return to dictatorship.

The government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been reported to the European Commission for contravention of the rules of the EU and there are demands for action from the EU and even the European Parliament.

Hungary is not a member of the euro zone unlike its more affluent neighbour, Austria, but is concerned that threats to the Euro could make conditions in Hungary even more difficult.

The EU is in desperate need of leadership and the ability to speak with one positive voice on the world political stage.

It is hard to be convinced that Hungary has that capacity as it hosts the hot seat of the presidency.

To meet the urgent challenges about the future of the EU would be a mammoth task for any member state without the major domestic problems which Hungary is facing. It is a tall order, even for a country with the spirit which challenged the might of the Soviet Union.

Michael McGowan is the former MEP for Leeds and President of the Development Committee of the European Parliament.