György Szapáry, Hungarian ambassador to the United States, spoke yesterday to a small group of faculty and students in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Center of Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies (CREEES) and the Europe Center.
He discussed Hungary’s top priorities as it assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, touched on Hungary-U.S. bilateral relations and fielded questions from the audience. Hungary has held the leadership of the Council since January. According to Szapáry, the Hungarian presidency’s motto is “a strong Europe with a human face.”
In line with this motto, one of Hungary’s top priorities is to develop a European strategy for the integration of the Roma people. According to Szapáry, the Roma constitute 7 to 8 percent of the Hungarian population, and will make up 20 percent of its workforce by 2020. And yet, 85 percent of the Roma are currently unemployed.
The problem, Szapáry said, is that the Roma in Central and Eastern Europe live mostly in small, isolated country villages and have no opportunity to “break out” into Hungarian society.
Szapáry believes that the key to integration lies in education, perhaps by following a model similar to the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City. Other solutions on the table include “bussing” between villages and positive discrimination in jobs.
Szapáry noted that it is not Hungary’s sole responsibility to tackle Roma integration; neighboring countries like Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia should also be involved.
“If you don’t help us to solve the problem here, the problem will be yours,” Szapáry said.
As an example, he cited French authorities’ expulsion of Roma from France.
Another top priority is to bring other countries into the fold of the European Union, particularly with regard to Croatia. Hungary also hopes to expand the Schengen Area to include Romania and Bulgaria.
Hungary is actively working to create a unified and efficient European energy market by 2014. Currently, the country is 100 percent dependent on Russian gas. Its goal is to change this trend by diversifying sources of gas.
“Hungary proposes to have interconnecting gas lines,” Szapáry said. “This way, if something happens with Russian gas, other countries can help out.”
Szapáry expressed his pleasure with the “good” relationship between Hungary and the U.S., pointing to Hungary’s anti-terrorism efforts, its presence in Afghanistan and Iraq and its support of human rights in Cuba.
He cited one example in which the U.S. Department of State asked him to arrange for a few American citizens to fly on a Hungarian flight out of Libya. Although the U.S. did not end up needing Hungarian help, the fact remains that the Hungarian government responded almost immediately with a resonant yes.
“It’s a gesture,” Szapáry said. “Coming from a small country, it’s a big thing.”
One audience member voiced his frustration with the Hungarian government’s inadequate response to a far-right paramilitary group’s rioting and terrorizing of Roma village populations.
Szapáry quickly responded that the government had, in fact, made strong comments against the group.
“Keeping order is the responsibility of the government, not private groups,” he said. “Our government is determined to clamp down on this.”
Born Count György Szapáry de Muraszombath Szechysziget et Szapar, the Hungarian ambassador is the grandson of a former prime minister of Hungary. He left the country at age 18 after the 1956 Soviet Union invasion and moved to Belgium to complete his master’s and doctoral degrees in economics.
He worked at the International Monetary Fund for 27 years before joining the National Bank of Hungary in 1993. He was appointed chief economic policy advisor to Hungary’s prime minister in June 2010, and became the Hungarian ambassador to the U.S. early this year.