A "privileged relationship"

French President Jacques Chirac will arrive in Hungary Monday for a two-day visit to reinforce what Budapest considers a "privileged relationship" between the two nations. "France is a strategic partner for us. We share many interests and values," Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy told in an interview last on Thursday. Chirac, in turn, last month praised Hungary as "an exemplary country of this great transformation" that will bring 10 nations, eight of them from the former Soviet bloc, into the European Union on May 1. Medgyessy, a fluent French speaker, called the French president's second official visit to Budapest since 1997 proof of a "privileged relationship" between the two states. "We are going to have the opportunity to talk about the future of the EU," Medgyessy said, adding that "our policies... are very similar."