The National Forum on Europe is to be addressed by the President of Slovenia, Mr Milan Kucan, on Tuesday next in Dublin. Its chairman, Senator Maurice Hayes, said the forum would continue to hear the voices of what he called "our future partner countries" in the European Union.
He told a meeting of the IHEA, the Irish Hungarian Economic Association, last night that the forum was established "with the task of debating our relationship with Europe, its relevance to our daily lives and to the future of our children".
The forum did not advocate any particular point of view but sought instead to "clarify and demystify".
The IHEA's annual prize was presented to Mr Jozsef Varadi, chief executive officer of the Hungarian airline, Malev, in recognition of its operations in Ireland over the last three years, including establishing a direct air link between the two countries.
Founded in the early 1990s, the IHEA has more than 100 members from the financial, business and tourism sectors. It is dedicated to promoting economic, commercial and financial relations between Ireland and Hungary.
In Strasbourg, the Labour MEP for Dublin, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said at the European Parliament that the conclusions from next weekend's EU summit in Seville should include a declaration that the Nice Treaty did not modify in any way the Irish policy of military neutrality, currently defined as non-membership of mutual defence pacts.