That is why I was so happy to be finally able to (i.e.: after two years of working for Europarl) have an article written about the issue of protecting national minorities in Europe, a subject, as our interviewee says, still very much a taboo in certain Central and Eastern European member states having those minorities themselves, and certain Western European member states either having by now ‘eliminated’ the issue by integrating those minorities by force or still having minorities loudly calling for autonomy. Coming from a country where every third person has some family members living in one of the country’s neighbouring country, minority protection and all that it entails (i.e. the right to speak and study in one’s own language, etc.) is an issue perhaps even more important than standardization (even if I admit that some might find it very sexy). Even if we say that borders have no longer significance within the European Union some three million Hungarians living outside Hungary may testify to the contrary. And they are EU citizens as well.

Communist poster in Memento Park by |*nv*| on Flickr

I was also very happy to have been able to write an article about the situation of the Roma, coming from a country with a significant Roma minority. Yes, an uneasy subject again, would of course be easier and more convenient to “sweep it under the carpet” as we say, but this is a subject which not only concerns Central and Eastern Europe, but also the Western half of the continent with Spain having the most Roma population in Europe. And also because with the massive exodus of the Roma towards the West following the Eastern enlargement, it suddenly became an European issue. So no matter how sensitive and uneasy this issue is, we have to speak about it both for the sake of our Roma and non Roma citizens as well.

I was also very happy to have been appointed as part of a working group to follow up with EP preparations for events related to the 20 years of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Another subject that we brought into the EU, our collective memories of totalitarian regimes such as Nazism and Communism and their victims. And the EP seems to be quite active in this field, with a resolution to be adopted during the next plenary and initiating an European Remembrance Day for the victims of Stalinism and Nazism, another article that I was happy to write. Why do we need to speak about that? Because with us ‘Easterners’ joining the EU our totalitarian heritage has become part of European history and the European collective memory so that it can never happen again. As one of the MEPs recently put it at a conference at the EP Western Europe has not been aware of the fact that during the first ten years following WWII 1 million people were killed in Central and Eastern Europe liberated by the Soviets. And yes, Western Europe has to face the fact that the illusion it nurtured about Communist dictatorships being somewhat nicer and more progressive and thus more forgivable than Nazism is false. The methods are no doubt different, but the millions of victims who died from either regime won’t care about the distinction; they can only make their voice heard through us remembering them.

Having studied humanities, me and budget are two worlds apart, but even within that topic I remember having been able to write an article about tobacco smuggling

But of course, I am also happy to follow the subjects that I am allotted to. When I arrived at the unit, my first subject was Budget that I was following with my German colleague. Having studied humanities, me and budget are two worlds apart, but even within that topic I remember having been able to write an article about tobacco smuggling with my Estonian colleague, which I really enjoyed and which was linked to by Philip Morris. I enjoyed writing it because the MEP told us a fascinating story and you could really see the EP’s role in watching after taxpayers’ money.

My next subject was Justice and Citizenship issue, a subject that I feel much more related to and that offered many interesting topics. One of my favourites articles to write was about a parliamentary hearing on Guantanamo prisoners and their possible resettlement into Europe. Another controversial issue, but very important one from a human rights perspective.

In my current topic Internal Market, Consumer Protection and Energy issues, my top favourite article so far on the possible exploitation of oil in the Arctic and return to use of nuclear energy has only been published for some minutes then withdrawn as the parliamentary report giving its basis was also withdrawn from the plenary agenda in the very last minute due to lack of political support. That happens. I even saw an interview that was never published, as it was withdrawn by an MEP himself for various reasons. Too bad, but that happens as well.

I also enjoyed writing an article about those MEPs that were elected into the EP in a country other than their country of origin, and having interviewed the EP’s only former Olympic Champion in fencing.

To cut a long story short, yes my taste for controversy is partly due to where I come from, but is also partly a personal inclination in search of interesting topics to write about. I have some more stories in reserve and hope to be able to leave my Central European ‘footprint’ by the time I have left our unit. A place to progress and a place to be progressed so that it becomes more open to the concerns of citizens from the other half of our continent. Sounds like a nice closing sentence, so there I stop for now.