Glatz on dual citizenship

On the occasion of the event Ferenc Glatz gave an interview to the Bratislava newspaper Szabad Újság (Free Newspaper) on dual citizenship, the assertion of the concept of „Kulturnation” (cultural nation) in Europe and more concisely in Central Europe. He accentuated that the present, and even more the future of Europe will be determined by migration, thus making dual or multiple citizenship become an issue of everyday practice.

The Setting-Up of the Rural Network in Hungary

Ferenc Glatz edited the recently published collection of essays entitled Sikeres vidéki térségek (Successful rural areas). In his introduction to the volume Vidékpolitika, vidékfejlesztés és új intézményei (Rural Policy, Rural Development and Its New Institutions) he outlines the role and function of the European and Hungarian rural networks, his ideas on starting a bottom-up civilian initiative and he ventures in clarifying the concepts of ”rural policy” and ”rural development”.

Book Presentation – Pál Csáky: Roller Coaster

The book presentation of the latest publication of Pál Csáky, President of the Hungarian Coalition Party in Slovakia, entitled Hullámvasút (Roller Coaster) was held in Budapest in the Pilinszky Literary Café. The afterword of the volume was written by Ferenc Glatz.
The author and Ferenc Glatz have known each other from the time when Pál Csáky was Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia: Ferenc Glatz, member of the commission monitoring the preparedness of candidate countries got acquainted with the deputy prime minister responsible for EU affairs in December 1998. Since then they have undertaken several joint efforts for promoting the protection of the interests and cultural values of minority Hungarians living in the neighbouring states of Hungary. In the past decade Ferenc Glatz has been many times present at the Minority Forums organised in Felvidék, the Southern parts of Slovakia inhabited by minority Hungarians. In his speeches he dealt with the economic and cultural possibilities of the European Union and the East Central European region, the shared interests of the two nations in Europe and in world politics as well as the issue of national-ethnic minorities in the region. Pál Csáky, President of the Hungarian Coalition Party also followed the invitation of Glatz and participated in the meetings held in Budapest on the future of Hungarian minority policy.
At the book presentation Zsolt Semjén, President of the Christian Democratic People’s Party, spoke the appreciating words to the volume.

The protection of far-away farmsteads is an issue of common interest

On April 26-29, the People’s College of Lakitelek and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences jointly organised the 2^nd Farmsteads’ Conference. The course of lectures presented at the event reviewed the prospects open to far-away farmsteads. On the first day of the event Ferenc Glatz, regular member of HAS and President of the Hungarian Rural Network, held the opening lecture entitled „The prospects for farmstead-areas with regard to the settlement structure of the Carpathian Basin int he 21^st century”.

Water and Environmental Management

On the occasion of celebrating the bicentennial anniversary of water management in Hungary a collection of articles bearing the title Water and Environmental Management was published in the April-issue of the periodical Agrárium, a publication series by the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture. The collection contains scientific articles on such specific topics as the scenarios of regional climate change, protection against ground water overspills, irrigation, and energy efficiency etc., among them the contribution of Ferenc Glatz entitled On Water and Agriculture, 2009. Herein he calls attention to the predictable valorisation of water closely connected to the deciding factors of recent times, such as climate change, food and energy production. Also he accentuated the importance of designating the recommendable course of a complex strategy on water management in the Carpathian Basin.

Market towns – centres of modernization in the countryside

The date chosen for the 5^th National Rural Forum of the Hungarian Rural Network was intended to set a mark. Thus, the Forum was scheduled for April 21-22, half-way between the two rounds of parliamentary elections in Hungary. Two venues have been designated for the two-day conference, one being Hódmezővásárhely, a town characterized by the Hungarian poet Endre Ady the ‘farmer’s Paris’, and the other being the town of Szarvas, known as the “Western gateway of Békés county”.
At the opening ceremony of the event held in Hódmezővásárhely, Ferenc Glatz accentuated in his lecture entitled “What’s the use of market towns?” the following: Looking back at the history of market towns situated at the Great Hungarian Plain, they can be regarded as perfect examples for the interconnectedness of the growth of towns and the evolvement of citizenship on the one side and the development of the surrounding areas on the other. Relying on this tradition, market towns, organically linked to the smaller settlements in their vicinity, are also today capable of becoming centres of modernization in rural areas. In order to meet this aim, however, there is an urgent need for creating new workplaces and the development of infrastructure – and the state may take its due share in this process by guaranteeing the equal standing of dwellings. In the course of the event lectures were held among others by Mayor János Lázár, György Gémesi, President of the Alliance of Hungarian Self-Governments.
During the afternoon-session held already in the town of Szarvas, the participants discussed the future prospects for reaching once again the economic potentials, the earlier level of employment and the safety of living in rural areas, all of these having disappeared in the years following the system change.

Hungarian Minority Policy in Europe

The latest issue (2010/1) of the periodical Ezredforuló (Turn of the Century) has been published including conference materials of the minority forum held in Budapest on 12 October, 2009.
Ferenc Glatz, director of the Europa Institute Budapest and President of the Strategic Research Committee of HAS invited the leaders of the major Hungarian political parties beyond the borders of Hungary as well as Hungarian Members of the European Parliament active in the field of minority issues. The main topics of discussion were: the minority policy of the EU, and the extent to which the latest regulations of the EU may open new perspectives and opportunities for cross-border economic-cultural enterprises, thus to minority policy.
The periodical includes the guideline statement of the programme (Ferenc Glatz: Hungarians, minority policy and Europe) as well as the contributions of, Pásztor István, Béla Markó, Pál Csáky, Kinga Gál, and Csaba Tabajdi.

LEADER Workshop Conference held in Lajosmizse

The LEADER section of the Hungarian Rural Network organized a workshop in Lajosmizse aimed at presenting a summary and an analysis of the experience gathered in Hungary in the course of the programme. The goal was to thoroughly investigate and designate the functional lash backs and the professional shortcomings of the programme and to prepare the firm basis for effective regulations. Ferenc Glatz spoke in his introductory speech about the structural framework, the decentralized organisation and the political non-commitment of the Hungarian Rural Network. He also referred to the proposal, having been worded previously, on the transformation of the Network into a General Assembly and the setting up of the section structure. He stated that the workshop conference held in Lajosmizse is to be regarded as a milestone, since this is the first time that the Network as a civilian organisation put the actual LEADER programme and its network system on its agenda. He also stressed the importance of LEADER-like programmes, of initiatives conforming to the principles of subsidiarity and being capable of understanding the problems of people living in rural areas, as well as being ready to find solutions to these problems.

Homage to the Caring Human – Kemény-Bertalan-Award, 2010

I have not known Bertalan Kemény personally but during his life-time I heard about his incentives and later got acquainted with his work. (…) I think that within society the greatest impetus of the legend connected to Kemény Bertalan is that it recognized the need for the caring human. It is simply not true that in modern industrial society we are obliged to renounce earlier ways of life, which in fact made us human and distinguished us from other mammals: humans have been social creatures, always caring for one another. (…) This legend is not about the past, but the future. In my eyes those who rightfully deserve the award are the fighters, the pioneers of this new, emerging movement.”

Water, Landscape, Society – Conference on Water

At the conference organized by the Programme-Committee for National Strategic Studies of HAS, the Presidium of the Hungarian Rural Network and the Europe Institute Budapest Ferenc Glatz in his lecture entitled Water and Society presented a broad overview on the international strategic conceptions on water in the1960-90s – concentrating in the beginning on sea-water and oceans and with time turning the more decisively towards drinking water.