The 20th jubilee congress of the European People’s Party took place in Marseille on December 8-9, 2011. The DAHR attended the debates with a six member delegation: Kelemen Hunor, the president of the Alliance, Péter Kovács, secretary general, Gyula Winkler and Csaba Sógor, MEP’s, György Frunda and Attila Korodi, members in the Romanian Parliament, Kálmán Kelemen, leader of the Christian Democratic Movement.

Hunor Kelemen DAHR president stated, that “it is extremely important that the DAHR attends the works of the EPP congress, since we are members of this organization since the beginning, we subscribe to its principles, and we have a good relationship with the leaders. Wilfried Martens, president of the EPP during his last visit to Bucharest, in September this year, reaffirmed his view that the Hungarian community needs a united representation in order to be able to maintain and strengthen its position, and to move forward on the enlargement of national minorities rights.”

In September president Martens ensured Hunor Kelemen and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania of his entire support, and stated that he is very pleased with the governmental, Parliamentary and European Parliamentary activity of the Alliance, and he is confident that the Romanian society understands and treasures the results of this work.

The main themes of the EPP congress were the economic crisis and strengthening Europe. On these two themes, a document and a resolution were adopted, on Thursday. The DAHR has also submitted a few amendments, mainly on the stimulation of the small and medium enterprises, as well as the facilitation of youth access to the labor market.

The enforcement of the small and medium enterprises is the basic condition for establishing new job opportunities in Europe. For this, the area needs to be safe and protected, through openness of the internal market, diminution of the bureaucracy, and support for innovative production and business solutions.

“We considered as highly important that he points of single contact solution should be applicable for the VAT and public taxes as well. On this area, Romania still has a lot to improve.” – stated Hunor Kelemen DAHR president, at the congress.

“The EU needs to ensure an attractive taxing environment for the small and medium enterprises in order to be worth investing in Europe. At the same time the last barriers for the mobility of labor force in Europe should be erased.” – underlined Hunor Kelemen, presenting the amendments made by the DAHR to the congress documents.

Even if the document does not stipulate the different taxing regulations of the member states, it encourages the establishment of a common tax-regulation for those enterprises that have activities in more states at the same time.

The European People’s Party is paying attention to the situation of the youth unemployment since it is obvious that this category is the main loser in this economic crisis. The unemployment among young people increased from 15,7% in 2007 to 21,1% in 2010. In its amendment, the DAHR proposed and the EPP calls for collaboration between universities, research institutes and economic operators. The mutual recognition of diplomas and qualifications is also a measure that young people could use in order to ensure themselves a better employment, on the other side there are the lifelong learning programmes destined for employees with lower education levels.

The next congress of the EPP will be held in Bucharest, on 16-17 October 2012, and it will signify an important milestone in the history of the European Peoples Party. After 20 years from the adoption of the first basic document of the political organization in Athens, the EPP will adopt its new political programme and will renew its leaders. In the elaboration of the new basic document, the DAHR is collaborating for several moths now, and its main goal is that an entire chapter of the document to be consecrated to the indigenous national minorities. Wilfried Martens, EPP president ensured the Alliance in September that the protection of the rights of national minorities, the issue of autonomy, and all those collective rights that the DAHR has been fighting for the past years, will be placed into the document.