Who’s afraid of sharing the EU pie?
Published on
On the 26th November 2005 around 100 people came to the superb Grand Café Oktogon, for a discussion over a cup of coffee with aim of shedding some light on the possible fears relating to the next enlargement round of the EU. Our event was honoured by the presence of several special guests who all answered with pleasure to the public’s questions and remarks throughout the debate.
The basis for the debate was the issue previously published by cafebabel.com on the same theme.
We were glad to notice that the representatives of the Hungarian civil society, academics, and experts also accepted our invitation and participated in the discussion. We appreciate the active contribution of the visiting café babel journalists as well, which was facilitated by the simultaneous translation by a professional interpreter.
The conclusion of the debate can be defined by the different opinions of our four major guests:
As István Szent-Iványi, Hungarian member of the European Parliament remarked: “we are talking about a European enterprise, where everyone is a shareholder”. Dimo Gyaurov, the Bulgarian Ambassador in Hungary underlined the efforts and the interest Bulgaria made in the last years, to become a full member of the European Union in 2007. University Professor Balázs Forman highlighted some key figures that are providing ground for understanding how the European funds are allocated to poorer regions of present and acceding member states. Ödön Szabó, Councillor of Bihar County in Romania, expressed his belief that the accession of Romania to the Union is a unique opportunity for the Hungarian minority to get back to the motherland and therefore the diverse European identity might actually present the best future for all.
Referring to the future scenario, some shared their vision of Europe as a political and military player on the global level.