Zsolt Nyitrai, Minister of State for Infocommunications and Chair of the Telecommunications Council during Hungary’s EU Presidency took part in an event organized by the European People’s Party focusing on radio spectrum policy issues in Brussels on 12 January, 2011. In his speech the Minister of State stressed that the European community has to come up with prompt and effective answers to the technological challenges of our time. He also noted that European Union needs to shift into higher gear since the political regimes of our global competitors with communities of greater populace are more adapt and faster-reacting to challenges.

The time has come to open new perspectives for the citizens of Europe – said Nyitrai, adding that the Hungarian Presidency regards the creation of smart, dynamic, and flexible spectrum policy as a crucial tool to improve competitiveness.

Nyitrai pointed out that the take-up of mobile devices is unstoppable, the latest mobile gadgets are released in vast numbers at international trade shows, necessitating additional frequencies for European operators to meet demand from increased data traffic. According to the Minister of State the European Union’s interest is to create dynamic, flexible, fast-reacting and smart spectrum policy, thus providing European citizens access to services that meet their increased information demand, satisfy them in terms of digital entertainment, day-to-day relations, and e-government services.

In Nyitrai’s view the European Commission’s RSPP proposal effectively supports swift broadband expansion in Europe through appropriate spectrum tools. He also referred to a high-level meeting in the subject held on 6 January in Budapest with Neelie Kroes, EU Commission Vice-President responsible for the Digital Agenda, and Gunnar Hökmark, the European Parliament’s chief rapporteur on spectrum where the parties agreed that more spectrums should be made available to foster a rapid increase in broadband deployment. In his speech he reminded that the Hungarian Presidency is interested in the establishment of a consensus-based policy, calling the European Parliament to support the rapid adoption of the radio spectrum policy programme.

Zsolt Nyitrai started his official visit at Nokia Headquarters in Helsinki where the key players of economic development in Finland presented their future plans, also affecting our region.

The Minister of State for Infocommunications also held talks with senior representatives of Elcoteq, particularly with regard to the Hungarian investments of the company group. Nyitrai also had a bilateral meeting with the Finnish government delegation in charge of EU affairs to discuss and review EU Presidency tasks.

The official visit closed with a working lunch with the senior officials of the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications where the parties also discussed the forthcoming Hungarian EU Presidency – priorities in the fields of information society and telecommunications – and the setting up of a joint Hungarian-Finnish expert group on Digital Agenda.

The Visegrád Four Meeting held in Bratislava was attended by Tamás Fellegi, Minister of Development, Zsolt Nyitrai Minister of State for Infocommunications, and Tamás Kovács Deputy State Secretary in charge of Hungary’s EU Presidency.

The agenda of the meeting focused on Hungary’s EU Presidency commencing from 1 January, 2011 and the event was also attended by Ján Figel, Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister.

With Poland taking over the EU Presidency from Hungary, Central Europe will have vast opportunities being in the focus of the international spotlight said Zsolt Nyitrai, also noting that finally the Central European region will experience being an integral part of the unified Europe.