ABSTRACT

Hungary joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. EU membership had been a top priority of Hungarian foreign policy since 1990 (Vida 2002: 47). After having signed the association agreement with the EC in 1991, Hungary applied for EU membership in 1994 and began the EU accession negotiations in 1998. Hence, EU constitution building was overshadowed by the last stage of accession negotiations in 2002 and the EU accession referendum in 2003. The priority for the Hungarian government was to secure favorable terms of entry into the European Union followed by the positive outcome of its accession referendum. In fact, the information campaign for the referendum made almost no connection between Hungary’s future membership and EU constitution building.