-
Hungarian Healthcare: The Myth of the Free Lunch
With Hungary’s joining the EU, the country now faces a previously unforeseen challenge: with the new freedom of movement, it’s not just the Hungarian plumber who’s leaving the country for a better future abroad, but droves of doctors and nurses too in an exodus that has brought the healthcare system […]
Read all posts for ‘Hungary’
-
Caught in the Middle – The Dilemma of Young People in Central Europe
With swelling youth unemployment in the EU, young people in Central European youth are facing some difficult, yet not so obvious, choices. In an unequal world, where competition for jobs has become global, reaching for Western European living standards might just not be a sustainable long-term solution. With the spectacular […]
-
The Darker Face of EU Solidarity
As Europe struggles on with the effects of the economic crisis, the debate on the upcoming EU budget is raising renewed concerns about solidarity. With calls for cuts to the Union’s budget becoming ever louder, we need to think about what effects fewer subsidies for poorer member states would have […]
-
From “You’re free to leave” to “When are you returning?”
A few years ago, in 2006, the then Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány made a memorable statement that was later understood as encitement for Hungarians to leave the country if they didn’t like it there. A look at the statistics today reveals that quite a few people have followed his […]
-
Not in my backyard please!
Imagine your country is rich in an expensive, useful but dangerous resource. Imagine this resource lies near your town. What would you do? What do you think Hungarians should do? Hungary is a small country in Central Europe that lacks significant energy resources and is strongly dependent on energy imports. […]