Website of the Hungarian Presidency officially presented

The eu2011.hu website will be the main communication channel of the rotating Hungarian Presidency. Its declared mission is to provide quick, professional and credible information. It can be accessed in four languages: Hungarian, English, French and German.

The website is a comprehensive portal, where anyone interested may access information about events organized by the Hungarian Presidency, and may use its services. In comparison with earlier Presidency web sites, the site will host up-to-date, current affairs articles, background documents and will have less content that is accessible elsewhere on the Internet. Accreditation for journalists will also be available from the website.

Belgian-Hungarian cooperation

The Hungarian Presidency webpage is the result of Belgian-Hungarian cooperation. Based on an agreement between governments, Belgium handed over a content management system for the Hungarian Presidency website, so visitors will encounter technical solutions and contents similar to that at the official Belgian site. The system, called Drupal, is one of the most widely used systems of its kind. The United Nations, The Harvard University or the MTV Music Television are among its users.

Ms Győri thanked Belgium for this gesture and called the Hungarian Presidency’s website „the product of a real trio cooperation”. 

The Presidency website, prepared by four journalists and a photographer, hosts a range of various online channels and tools that enable the visitor to reach the required content faster. The toolbar at the top of the pages can be used to set the language, access search options for news and media databases, to access the newsletter, the customer service, and ask for email and SMS-notification. Weekly newsletter is provided in all four languages. The website will produce live video coverage of major events and provide downloadable print quality photos for the media.

Simple structure

Essential tools of social media are also accessible with a click (Facebook; Twitter and others). A number of leading Presidency team members will constantly cover the events in their blog (for example Bálint Ódor, the Deputy State Secretary for European Union Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and György Urkuti, head of the EU Communications Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Gergely Polner and Márton Hajdú, the two Brussels-based spokesmen of the Hungarian Presidency). Readers will be able to follow behind-the-scenes events through their posts. 

The structure of the Hungarian website is simpler than that of the previous Presidency pages (only four main menu options) and adheres strictly to the visitor’s main targets and paths. Its creators hope that this transparency will contribute to easier navigation of the site. One of the main objectives of the site is to help the work of journalists and delegation members. Citizens can gather straightforward information not only about the Presidency’s work, but also about the functioning of the EU, its main policies and objectives.

The Presidency website also hosts cultural pages that are distinctive in their appearance and green skin. Minister of State Kovács stressed  that these cultural pages serve civil communication while completing and expanding the Hungarian Presidency’s political communication. Apart from presenting cultural events related to the Presidency, these pages also place a great emphasis on providing information about Hungarian gastronomy and wines, and on presenting the European Year of Volunteering.