Strategic Consultation
István Hegedűs participated at the meeting of the campaign organisers of the European Initiative for Media Pluralism in Rome on 18 May 2013.
Public Consultation
On 16 May 2016 István Hegedűs represented HES in an expert meeting in the Independent Journalism Centre in Budapest. The participants discussed the recommendations of the high-level group established by the European Commission on media freedom and pluralism.
Losing Independence
Júlia Király, who had resigned in April from her office as the deputy governor of the Hungarian National Bank, gave a talk titled "Hungarian monetary policy during and after the period of András Simor, the former Governor" to the members of the Hungarian Europe Society on 2 May 2013.
Visitors from Belarus
In frame of the project 'Public Administration Reform in Visegrad Countries: Lessons Learned for Belarus and Ukraine' experts from Belarus were taking part on a study trip in Budapest between 21 and 25 April. The guests were visiting some Hungarian public administration organs and NGOs. Their purpose was to learn more about the operation of these institutions and based upon the experiencies to contribute to a modern and efficient public administration system in the two countries of the Eastern Partnership.
The program had been arranged by HES in cooperation with its Czech partner institution, AMO.
The Hungarian Example
As a member of the international "Visa-free Europe Coalition", the Hungarian Europe Society, together with the Ukrainian NGO “Europe without Barriers” and the CEU Center for EU Enlargement Studies, was one of the organisers of the event entitled „EU Visa Policy: What Neighbors Could Do? Example of Hungary”; which took place on 8 April 2013 at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest.
The presentations and round table discussions were arranged to enhance the public discourse about borders, visa policies and free movement of people in Europe.
The speakers of the event discussed visa issues between EU member states and Eastern European countries outside the European Union. The example of the Hungarian visa policy towards the Ukraine, considered to be a good practice, was one of the important topics.
Overseas Visitors
The Hungarian Europe Society, as the partner of the German Marshall Fund of the United States of America, was once again the organiser of the study tour of US fellows in Budapest between 22 and 26 March 2013. The guests had professional and political meetings, including presentations by HES members. Györgyi Kocsis made an introductory lecture on the Hungarian political development, whilst István Hegedűs spoke about Hungary as a member state of the European Union, and Zsuzsanna Szelényi talked about the political concepts of Együtt 2014 Movement. The visitors' program had been arranged by István Hegedűs, Enikő Pap and Zsuzsanna Szelényi.
The Government Should Stop Its Coup-Like Modifications of the Hungarian Constitution
Abusing their two-third parliamentary majority, Viktor Orbán and his government in a new wave of “coup-like” amendments to the constitution wants to elevate to constitutional status a number of laws that were previously struck down by the Constitutional Court. Fidesz-KDNP wishes to cement for ever such anti-democratic ideas contradictory to European, even, universal values, which not so long ago it was forced to revoke under the pressure of the European institutions. By doing so, the government is depriving Hungarian citizens of their liberties, and again challenging international, public democratic players defending our rights.