And they're off!
Andrea Elteto has welcomed us to the Presentation of the Hungarian and Slovenian chapters of the upcoming TEPSA Book!
As ever we'll be live-tweeting the highlights of the event, but you can still #Zoom in and join us live!
tepsa.eu/online-event-e…
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Maja Bucar from @FDVLjubljana is giving her presentation first, on the changes to the political landscape since 2019, with a shift towards Visegrad prioritisation
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Noting that the current Slovenian Prime Minister is a good friend of #Orban, Maja Bucar from @FDVLjubljana analyses the foreign policy of the new government
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Maja Bucar's analysis of the EU's response to #COVID19 highlights a complex picture: initial struggles at EU level and CEE solidarity, emphasising the ally-ship of these countries within the EU
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"On the far left, Slovenia's membership was accepted, but complaints of excessive bureaucracy persisted [...] on the far right, they emphasise the need to national sovereignty, curbs to migration, and similar rhetoric to what we see in Hungary"
- @FDVLjubljana's Maja Bucar
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Maja Bucar is currently analysing the so-called "Patriotic League", a Slovenia-first party with hard Eurosceptic views which arose during the 2019 EU elections
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"The people are not fond of these extremist views, though the less extreme Eurosceptic party did collect votes"
- Maja Bucar from @FDVLjubljana continues her analysis
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"Slovenians do believe that membership is good for the country, and the national character is such that extremists tend no to do well. On the other hand, the media giving attention to the extremes increased their power"
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Maja Bucar from @FDVLjubljana prescribes a serious communication campaign to make people on the ground more aware of the benefits of EU membership
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Maja Bucar from @FDVLjubljana has made her presentation, and Andras Inotai from Hungary now takes the floor
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"The EU is not only at the crossroads, but is having a Hamiltonian moment"
Andras Inotai begins his presentation with a fascinating comparison: Hamilton was a towering figure in the federalisation of America, what integrations are possible to make the EU stronger?
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Andras Inotai notes that despite the Eurosceptic government, Hungary still has high population-level support for the EU, as a result, according to his analysis, of hundreds of years of Hungarian history and the desire to be firmly anchored as a Western country
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600,000 Hungarians working abroad in the EU
Hungarians are still attracted by the EU, or were dis-attracted by Hungary's eurosceptic government: due to voter discrimination, according to Andras Inotai, a pro-European majority still exists in Hungary, despite the government
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"When the government is violating the basic rule and values of the EU, strong pro-Europeans are needed more than ever in Hungary, thankfully we see these movements rising nowadays"
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"The media has been playing a noxious role: benefiting from stirring ancient hatreds and critiquing failures by covering up the ways of resolving these failures within the EU"
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Andras Inotai from IWE CERS, our Hungarian member institute, makes an impassioned speech about European values and the importance of working together in the EU
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"What is Euroscepticism: it has two different interpretations. You can be Eurosceptic because you do not believe in the effectiveness of the EU as a policy-making organism. You can be Eurosceptic because you believe that full federalisation is the only way of confronting...
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...our common challenges. In other words, you can be a Eurosceptic because you want less Europe, you can be a Eurosceptic precisely because you want MORE Europe"
Andras Inotai analyses Euroscepticism for our audience
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"Solidarity is a multi-level win-win scenario, a long term package where those who undermine the project must be treated accordingly"
Andras Inotai begins his desires for the open #FutureofEurope
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"So-called strong and proud nation states do not hold the solutions for Europe's current challenges. Those nation states, historically, are the basis of many wars. We must learn from these historic failures"
- Andras Inotain from IWE CERS
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Andras Inotai calls for moving forward both on the basis of internal cohesion, but also on the basis of #DifferentiatedIntegration
If you want to learn more about #Differentiation, check out our #InDivEU project!
➡️ indiveu.eui.eu
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The common denominator between Maja Bucar and Andras Inotai is that we need more and better communication of what Europe is, means, and how it benefits us
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After our fascinating two speeches on Euroscepticim in Hungary and Slovenia, we've opened the floor to questions, and true to the current climate, the first question is about #COVID19 recovery and the opportunities it presents to make the EU stronger
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Andras Inotai bemoans the resurgence of tribalism during #COVID19: "we need to use our brain"
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The rhetoric of "importing" #COVID19 reminded Andras Inotai of the rhetoric surrounding the #RefugeeCrisis: "it was the same story of invasion, but we shouldn't blame others for our own failure"
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After a wonderful Q&A session with our experts, Andrea Elteto closes out the session with thanks to Maja Bucar and Andras Inotai
/ENDS
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