Few would argue. If his candidacy is accepted, Navracsics will arrive in the wake of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s (pictured left) latest “war of independence” on Brussels. Moreover, he will serve under European Commission (EC) President-elect Jean Claude Juncker, whose nomination Orbán opposed, controversially, alongside British PM David Cameron, as the other 26 members of the EU-28 voted in favour.

Orban’s gamble ultimately failed on two counts: firstly because his vocal opposition has further isolated Fidesz within the European People’s Party bloc, of which Juncker is a member, and secondly the federalist Juncker will lead a far more stringent policy regarding member states’ compliance with EU law than his predecessor, José Manuel Barroso.

Navracsics will have to walk the line between Orbán’s populist anti-EU showboating – so popular with many voters at home – and his commissary duty to uphold the EU law. Unlike other EU bodies, the EC represents the interests of Europe as a whole, rather than of individual countries, and is tasked with ensuring that individual member states apply EU law in their own countries.

The EC supervises the introduction of EU directives into national law, the breaching of EU Treaty provisions, regulations and directives, and upholds fair competition for EU businesses, all areas where Hungary has received negative attention in recent years.

Juncker will now decide whether to accept the nomination and which portfolio to assign. Once the newly-elected 28-member European Commission is assembled by Juncker, the European Parliament will conduct hearings with each member of the president’s team to determine their overall suitability. Navracsics’s understudy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto, is expected to succeed him if his nomination is accepted.

Navracsics’s background as a jurist – like Orbán he is a law graduate but has never practised – pales in comparison to his rapid rise as a political figure. He graduated in law from Eötvös Loránd University in 1990 and then attained a PhD in political science. For most of the 1990s Navracsics remained in academia, only making the transition into politics during the first Orbán government of 1998-2002, holding numerous communications and press-related positions.

He became an MP in 2006 and served as Fidesz’s caucus leader until 2010. He was then appointed to oversee the massive justice and public administration ministry until April 2014, and until recently was seen by observers as one of Orbán’s main rivals for the party leadership. By sending Navracsics to Brussels at a pivotal time, Orbán kills two birds with one stone: he puts a competent man in place at the EC while sidelining a potential rival.

Source: The Budapest Beacon

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