On the State of the EU Integration Process - Enlargement and Institutional Reforms 1. [antikvár]

Welcoming Remarks Lajos Vékás Dear Ms. Lastenouse, dear Ambassador Beck, dear Professor Madl, dear Colleagues, dear Friends, Ladies and Gentleman, It is my great honor and pleasure to welcome you on behalf of Collegium Budapest, the host and the other co-organizing institute on the occasion of the opening of our Conference on the economic, sociological and legal issues related to Hungary's accession to the European Union. Collegium Budapest/ Institute for Advanced Study, the first such institute in Central-Eastern Europe, was founded largely as a result of the changes in 1989. The function of the Collegium is to invite outstanding international scholars from all disciplines for a specific period of time and to offer them optimum working conditions to carry out their research projects. It is also among our aims to stop the "brain-drain" by creating an intellectual atmosphere which makes the best minds of the region stay and work here. Regarding its founding and aims, our institute is a European research institute par excellence, which — if for no other reason — gives high priority to the scientific analysis of the issues related to the European integration. In 1996 we organized a series of five lectures with the contribution of leading EU civil servants on the problems of the further development of the European integration and the prerequisites of the Hungarian accession. This conference links up with the lecture series very well, summing it up as well as completing it. Both foreign and Hungarian participants of the present conference are well aware of the eminent importance Hungary attributes to the accession to the European Union as soon as possible. You also know that this accession necessitates the assessment, analysis and solution of a wide range of far reaching problems. Political determination and as of now a clearly supportive public opinion will not suffice; in this issue as well, the devil is in the details. This conference, as shown by the program, will analyze exactly these details through the contributions of highly competent experts. Obviously, we cannon treat all the issues, even less can we claim to be able to give answers which would be reassuring from all perspectives for the problems raised. We can promise, however, that the talks and the discussions following them will take us closer to the optimal solutions in many fields. I wish you a fruitful conference, and thank you for your participation and contribution in advance.