Aww, you have a fireplace!

After Bulgaria and Serbia, Hungary showed why it’s wrong to generalise about Southeastern Europe. Once among the most promising countries for economic prosperity in the EU, Hungary has by now fallen into a deep recession, wages have dropped to minute size, and the people’s scepticism towards EU politics is ever more increasing. During our four-days stay we visited both Szeged and Budapest as well as the countryside which is where we learned what a pile of wood means for Hungarians: It’s not an “Aww, you have a fireplace.” but “Aww, you have enough wood to heat during winter.” Read on for more surprises and prejudices in Hungary. 

The most prominent topic, of course, when thinking of Hungary-EU relations has been Victor Orbán’s rigorous political style, especially with regard to national media laws. In March 2012 his criticism of EU officials reached a new level when he compared them to “Soviet apparatchiks”. Surely young Hungarians should oppose to the restrictive media laws and euro-scepticism, as both free press and European integration have been stories of success since the end of the communist regime. So we thought. But when we spoke to young Hungarians in central Budapest we learned something quite different: “Media laws don’t harm me”, says Hannah, an English language student who used to work for Budapest Business Journal (Hungary’s English online newspaper). She feels that the EU commission is too strict with Hungary and that she can freely express her opinion. Natalie, a young economics student, agrees: “The EU doesn’t know everything about our politics and media laws.” When Natalie’s mother complained about Orbán’s media policies, she replied “Mum, we must care about education and jobs, not media laws.” She thinks that the outrage by EU politicians is hypocritical: “Take a look at Italy or the UK, they have restricted media landscapes.” It seems that most Hungarians neither know about the laws content nor care. But by establishing a centralist agency to control national media Orbán has certainly abused the freedom of speech. Of course this doesn’t hold for every young Hungarian. Nora, a social worker who supports the Roma population, blames her government for not adapting political standards from Brussels. “In these days, I would like to be more European”, she says. Generally speaking, however, our impression is that quite a few young Hungarians follow Orbán’s nationalist populism.

We walk trough the city centre and along the Danube riverside. The Buda Castle majestically overlooks the surroundings. Although Budapest was partly destroyed by both Allies and Soviets in the Second World War, the city still bears enormous architectural heritage. It’s a stunning place with a rich history; but take a look behind the facade. Some 7% GDP decline in 2009 and only tiny growth rates in more recent years, almost 15% of the population living below the poverty line, and a volatile, unreliable currency. German medicine students in Szeged tell us how they secretly pay their rent in Euros because nobody wants to suffer from currency fluctuations. They also explain why nobody is even considering to stay in Hungary: “An assistance doctor earns 450 Euros”, explains Tim. And a young Hungarian student adds “I am always confused when people from abroad believe that I’m rich because my father has a PhD title.” In fact, Hungary has largely failed to award socially beneficial jobs like teachers and doctors. Instead, “80% of EU money goes to wrong places”, as Laszlo, a school graduate, argues. Unfortunately, prospects aren’t especially bright either. When we ask for sectors of future economic success all we hear for a response is the new BMW plant in Kecskemet. It seems like the supposedly most-western and prosperous of the former Warsaw pact countries has slowed down significantly.

Two days later, we make our way north towards the Slovakian border. Jan decides to run for 20 kilometres along the riverside – an idea that he regrets athletically, but all the more enjoys in terms of what he discovers: Deserted loading sights, Roma encampments, fishermen, holiday houses, old communist infrastructure. On the one hand there’s the magnificent Danube landscape and the fact that you are nowadays able to freely travel through 6 (soon to be 7) EU countries along the river. On the other hand, the deserted factories point to the not-so-long ago economic transition that has left its wounds. And the Roma people are still the most discriminated and impoverished ethnic group in Europe. “We have a huge Roma problem”, says Hannah. “They only go to school until grade 7 and are hardly integrated.” Pavol Demes, the former Slovakian foreign minister, who we meet two days later explains: “We have made no progress, nobody has made any progress. After opening borders in Europe, especially with the joining of Slovakia, Hungary, and Rumania, the problem became European. Similar to the national governments, the EU does not have satisfactory policies. We collectively do not have satisfactory policies.” Of course it’s hard to overcome the traditional conflict between respecting the Roma’s freedom on the one and improving living standards on the other hand, since real help includes coercion. But it’s surprising and sad how little the combined effort of European nations has helped. Maybe the EU should design a more devoted strategy if it really wants to prove that it can solve severe social and humanitarian problems within its borders before starting to export norms. With increasing appearance of “local citizens’ police forces” and right-wing nationalism, Hungary is certainly left with considerable problems, that could be more easily addressed if media and politics wouldn’t use every opportunity to shoot populistically against the EU.

Hip hip hurra to colourful Coco and superstunning Steffi who kindly accommodated us in Szeged and Budapest.

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