In the last years we lived to see the development of the European Union in political and - above all - in the economical and financial areas. The SEM, the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam, the Single European Currency,... were joint steps to a better, more common and more human Europe; in mediating the global economy, European policymakers operate simultaneously in the Community, in national and local policy environments. But coevally some problems became bigger: problems of a bureaucratically kind, of legitimacy and of obscurity, for which the intellect of a single normal human could not be enough. With the „Agenda 2000“–Settings the member-states decided to enforce the enlargement of the EU, especially up to the east. But this step can cause difficulties, which are far beyond purely market problems. Before the impending enlargement can come, a lot of questions have to be asked and solved. One point of view concerns the ethnology, sociology and psychology as much as the politics: the search for a common European identity. It should be asked, if there exists or can exist such a common one, or if it is such an empty phrase, used by nationalist and opponents of the EU as well as by the advocators of a „house of Europe“. I would like to turn my attention to the Hungarian country as an example for the enlargement of the EU. Why Hungary? The European identity of the Hungarian people is deeply included within their national identity: 1. This country belongs to the more favoured group of applicant states listed in Agenda 2000, and always has possessed strong connections to the membercountries, 2. The people in this country share a common history, especially with Austria and Germany (as members of the recent EU), 3. They see themselves as the “Middle of Europe” – not only in a geographical way. But when we in the western part of Europe speak about this continent and this corpus europaeicum, we often forget to remember, that most of the post-communist countries of course had been an important part of Europe2 and that they share a lot of cultural, religious,... aspects with us, which could be displaced by the iron curtain only temporary.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Hungary: data and facts
2.1 Geography: The Middle Of Europe
2.2 History: Back To Europe
2.3. The People
3. Europe as part of the Hungarian identity
3.1. Hungarian Images Of Europe And The EU
3.1.1 Public Opinion – Profile And Image In The Region
3.1.2 Information Sources
3.1.3 Main Interests
3.1.4 EU-Referendum
3.1.5 Reasons
3.1.6 Who Benefits Most?
3.2 Europe - What Else?
4. Conclusion: welcome back?
5. Bibliography
Annex
Annex 1: Hungarian Self-Portrait
Annex 2: Visibility Of EU
Annex 3: EU Issues Of Interest In Candidate Countries
Annex 4: Who Benefits Most?
Annex 5: Trustworthiness Of Information Sources
“East European intellectuals knew everything about France, about Germany, England or Italy. Western European culture was European culture, Western European political history was the core of the continent’s past, while the cultural and political monuments of the second part of Europe were out of sight. [...] There was never reciprocity. The secondary and marginal status of the culture and the peoples of Eastern Europe was a pity but an acknowledged truth.”[1]
1. Introduction
In the last years we lived to see the development of the European Union in political and - above all - in the economical and financial areas. The SEM, the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam, the Single European Currency,... were joint steps to a better, more common and more human Europe; in mediating the global economy, European policymakers operate simultaneously in the Community, in national and local policy environments. But coevally some problems became bigger: problems of a bureaucratically kind, of legitimacy and of obscurity, for which the intellect of a single normal human could not be enough.
With the „Agenda 2000“–Settings the member-states decided to enforce the enlargement of the EU, especially up to the east. But this step can cause difficulties, which are far beyond purely market problems. Before the impending enlargement can come, a lot of questions have to be asked and solved. One point of view concerns the ethnology, sociology and psychology as much as the politics: the search for a common European identity. It should be asked, if there exists or can exist such a common one, or if it is such an empty phrase, used by nationalist and opponents of the EU as well as by the advocators of a „house of Europe“.
I would like to turn my attention to the Hungarian country as an example for the enlargement of the EU. Why Hungary? The European identity of the Hungarian people is deeply included within their national identity:
1. This country belongs to the more favoured group of applicant states listed in Agenda 2000, and always has possessed strong connections to the member-countries,
2. The people in this country share a common history, especially with Austria and Germany (as members of the recent EU),
3. They see themselves as the “Middle of Europe” – not only in a geographical way.
But when we in the western part of Europe speak about this continent and this corpus europaeicum, we often forget to remember, that most of the post-communist countries of course had been an important part of Europe[2] and that they share a lot of cultural, religious,... aspects with us, which could be displaced by the iron curtain only temporary.
Therefore a short stock-taking of Hungary will form the first part of my paper. Before we can move on to examine the Hungarians point of view, it will be useful to throw a light on Hungarian history and some of its country specifics.
Under the assumption that a “thing called European identity” really could exist, the attitudes of the Hungarian people towards Europe should be focused under ethnological, political, social and historical aspects, to find answers to the questions:
1. Where the common European ideas are coming from, and what could be the heart of them,
2. What image the Hungarians have of the European Union,
3. If they have learnt about “Western European standards” regarding democracy, human rights,..., and finally,
4. If they believe that their future has to lie in the EU, or with what else they could identify themselves (Russia, Asia,...).
Used Methods
My researches are based on some empirical surveys to assess public opinion on the above mentioned topics: European Union as well as political climate in Hungary including its main reasons and effects.
The data was taken from the Central and Eastern Eurobarometer 8, which was published by the European Commission in 1998 and co-ordinated with the help from GFK Europe-Ad hoc Research. The survey carried out in between 10 and 20 countries. Each country survey includes a sample of around 1,000 persons, who were interviewed at home. Because of that the surveys have to be seen as nationally representative.
2. Hungary: data and facts
2.1 Geography: The Middle Of Europe
illustration not visible in this excerpt
Hungary is one of the countries in so called Central Europe . As it can seen in graphic 1, it is surrounded by several of the other candidate countries and has a border to the EU member-state Austria.[3]
Graphic 1: European Countries[4]
2.2 History: Back To Europe
The Hungarians settled in the place described above after 896. What followed were a lot of battles and some losses, which resulted in the Christianity of the Hungarian people. Exactly one thousand years ago Hungary became independent after the coronation of King Stephan in 1001. In the next centuries the foreign policy meant mainly expansion. But in the middle of the XVI. Century the country came at first under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and then 1699 under the rule of the Habsburgian Monarchy.[5]
Hungary was part of the polyglot Austro-Hungarian Empire until it collapsed in World War I. With the dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy and through the pact of Trianon it lost nearly 66 per cent of its former size and about 50 per cent of its population, which since then has to belong to (contemporary) Slovakia, Serbia, Romania and the Ukraine.[6]
In World War II Hungary collaborated with the fascism Italy and later also with the Germans:
“The certain aim of the government, supported by the public, was the restoration of the nation by the revision of the Trianon borders, and this aspiration was once more justified by reference to historic rights.”[7]
It declared war on Russia in 1941 but lost everything again at last in 1945 and felt under communist rule. Thereafter the Hungarians tried to revolt in 1956 and announce withdrawal from Warsaw Pact, but they were stopped with massive military intervention by Moscow and a part of their leaders were executed afterwards.
In the 80´s – the more open Gorbachev years – Hungary led the movement dissolve the Warsaw Pact and steadily shifted toward multiparty democracy and a market orientated economy, even before the fall of the wall in November 1989.
Following the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Hungary developed close political and economic ties to Western Europe again.[8] In 1999 it joined NATO and is now a front-runner in a future expansion of the EU.
2.3. The People
In Hungary live today 90 per cent (out of about ten million inhabitants )Hungarians and about one million members of different ethnic groups: Roma (500.000), German (300.000), Serb (230.000) and others.
Even though there are existing such a lot of huge minorities, Hungary is a country without internal conflicts. The minority rights (embedded in the constitution) are not only for Central and Eastern Europe exemplary. One of the reasons for these liberal part of the constitution is certainly the huge amount of Hungarians living outside the borders in Slovakia, the Ukraine, Romania and Serbia.[9]
The most important religious group is the Roman Catholic church. In Hungary belong 67,5% to it, 20% are Calvinists and 5% Lutheran. The main language to 98,2% is Hungarian.
I hope, I could illustrate the deep european roots, which coined Hungarian history over the last 1000 years. This chapter should have shown two different things: firstly it gave a glimpse at the development of recent Hungary, secondly it should show that Hungary as a matter of course has to be a part of our understanding of Europe. After more than 40 years of “Cold War” it will require a lot of rethinking for not identifying with Europe only its western part or the more or less recent EU.
Nowadays Hungary is one of the applicant countries to the EU. The official “return” in all likelihood will take place in the most nearest future.
But of course not only the recent EU point of view has to be important, also the image of Europe the Hungarians themselves have, has to count.
This will be the subject of this chapter: I would like to focus on the EU public opinion in Hungary, a country, which stands on the doorstep to the union. What do their images look like? What are the expectations, what the misgivings? By what are these images be influenced (TV, newspapers, opinion leader,...), and what are they thinking about Western Europe actions such like the volatile Maastricht referenda in Denmark and France or the unsuccessful Norwegian accession?
Answers should be find mainly by using data from the CEEB-surveys of 98, as mentioned above.[10]
[...]
[1] Milosz, C. (1997), Life On Islands, Kraków; in Smith, D. and Wright, S. (eds.) (1999), Whose Europe? The Turn Towards Democracy, Oxford.
[2] Geremek, B. (1995), Zur Identität Zentraleuropas – Illusion und Realität, in K. Michalski, Identität im Wandel, Stuttgart, p. 199.
[3] A more exact geopolitical characterisation would cause a lot of problems, which can not be part of this paper. For further informations see Geremek, B. (1995) and Szücs, J. (1990), Die drei historischen Regionen Europas, Frankfurt am Main.
[4] Graham, B. (1998), Modern Europe, London, p. 9.
[5] For further details see Krause, E. (1997), Nationalismus und demokratischer Neubeginn – Nationale Identität und postkommunistischer Transformationsprozess am Beispiel Ungarns, Neuried, p. 107-182.
[6] Kalnoky, B. (1996), Suche nach neuer Identität, in the German newspaper Die Welt, 12.12.1996.
[7] Peter, László (1994), Language, The Constitution, And The Past, in Ritchie Robertson and Edward Timms (eds.): The Habsburg Legacy, Edinburgh, p. 22.
[8] The Western Europe countries Germany and Austria are the most important import- and export-partners (together about 40 per cent of each value).
[9] This is also the main reason, why Hungary had internal problems with their relations to the NATO in the Balkan conflict – they feared the killings of their own people in Serbia by NATO-bombs.
[10] European Commission (1998), Central and Eastern Eurobarometer 8, Brussels.
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