Only 38% of Hungarians consider EU membership a good thing, according to a poll by Eurobarometer. Most respondents, 45%, said it was neither good nor bad, while 15% were against EU membership.
However, 55% of Hungarians have confidence in EU institutions, higher than the EU average of 49%.
The popularity of the EU has plummeted to record lows in the member states, as just 49% of EU citizens believe that their country has benefited from EU membership, with 18% seeing membership as bad.
On other issues, 32% of Hungarian respondents expect an improvement in the economy within a year, while 41% say the situation will not change, and 25% believe that things will get worse.
I have said before and I will say it again. I agree with the spirit of the EU. Makes sense.
What I do not agree with, is how it has been implemented. Meaning a few countries are benefiting on the backs of the smaller countries in Europe. Industries are being shut down in these smaller countries, forcing them to import more and export less. Creating dependence.
The excuse is ‘they are not competitive enough.’ Bullshit. The bigger countries ie:France, Germany etc wanted to enter into these countries markets and eliminate any competition. Again my opinion.
So, why is it so different in Canada and the US? European history maybe? The history and old wounds between various countries? I don’t know.
Years ago, the Canadian Government introduced the National Energy Program. NEP for short. This was introduced to ‘make Canada less dependent on foreign oil’. Bullshit for Western Canada had Alberta and Eastern Canada were the ones who were importing.
Short story longer. What this ended up doing was benefiting Eastern Canada while almost wiping us out here in Alberta. Introducing such a recession that it is reflected here today via the ‘bad blood’ that still thrives between Eastern and Western Canada. Intense dislike, lack of trust and any olive branch extended, is always looked upon suspiciously.
My point. One group of countries can not dictate the tempo to the rest of Europe. It is bound to blow up in their faces. And it looks like it is doing just that. In my opinion
Hi Zsuzsa,
On of the big problems they are dealing with is the uneven economic development of their membership. That was less of an issue when it was a club of economically developed western European states (The “Common Market”). Once the decision (based largely on political considerations) was made to admit some of the former communist bloc members along with some southern European members (“PIGS”), problems with bailouts arose.
A free trade club isn’t of much use if the member is not a trader! Hungary is still not yet much of an export economy, and so is not in a position to derive full benefits. The potential customers are there- more than 300 million people. What’s needed is to start selling them something. Our people are still learning such things and will likely need a generation to pass before Hungarians figure out how to get rich off of EU membership.
That Hungarians in this poll express trust in EU institutions, I think is street smart realism on their part. They see tax evasion and other non-compliance all around them every day, and must assume that countries that have been wealthier, and who’ve had more regime stability can do a better job enforcing laws.
The esistance against the EU is similar to the resistance against a unified Germany 200 to 140 years ago – then it took several wars, first Napoleon’s efforts and later the Prussian/Austrian conflict and 1870 again the French to consolidate the German states.
Of course the situation now is differen (languages!) but still – I’ve read about how difficult it was around 1850 to further the economy – just to build a railway betwen Prussia and Saxonia for example, and everywher there were borders and customs offices and even different measurement systems (You not only had the English foot and pound, every German state had its own definitions of weights and measures until the meter and the gram came …)
So in the long run everybody in Europe will profit – even now there aremany things like free travel and free business (almost) – but everybody takes it for granted …
My wife and I still remember how difficult international travel in Europe was 25 years ago – for her as a normal Hungarian almost impossible to go abroad (she was not part of the Nomenklatura …)
The excuse is ‘they are not competitive enough.’ Bullshit. The bigger countries ie:France, Germany etc wanted to enter into these countries markets and eliminate any competition
justasking at August 30, 2010 9:33 PM
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And that is why people in these new countries were positive to the EU?
The EU has done nothing to change the new member states situation with their domestic market. Most Hungarian industries you would refer to died before Hungary joined the EU. They died due to the fact that their main markets, the old Soviet-bloc was wiped out over night. If 85% of your Customer-base suddenly disappears over a very short period of time, you have nothing left
When I came to Hungary in 1993, Hungarians did not want the old stuff, they hated to buy ‘Hungarian’ or ‘Soviet/Russian-made’
Their dream was not a ‘Polski Fiat’, it was a Golf and a few years later a Hungarian-produced Suzuki (we have had a few…)
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These 2 things killed off the Hungarian industries, together with the state the factories actually were in and the need for repair and renovations to adhere to new standards of produce and environmental protection
Of course peoples reaction to Hungarian produce was not good, but today the pendulum has turned and *only* Hungarian produced is accepted as good quality, at least on food
The same thing there, not so much facts and reasons, just feelings, but feelings sell
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Most old EU-countries have lost factories/production to the new EU-countries, so they are protesting…