The 49-year-old has a long history of working in the field of sociology, including a former professorship and a cache of books she authored on the subject. Although Lévai says her time as minister has been well spent, which included the development, passing and enforcement of Hungary’s first anti-discrimination legislation – mandated by the European Union ahead of accession – she will likely be off soon to Brussels, nominated near the top of Hungary’s Socialist Party list to run in European Parliament elections.

Lévai says she welcomes the opportunity to represent her country abroad, and promises to continue championing for the rights of minority and vulnerable groups, even from her post inside the EU. Ahead of Hungary’s EU accession, she spoke to DT – Diplomacy & Trade about her service in Hungary, and what she expects from a future Brussels posting.

Your ministry is best associated with Hungary’s newly introduced anti-discrimination legislation. Have there been any claims under this new law? Do you expect it to be a well-used mechanism for minority groups?

Katalin Lévai This bill was adopted two months ago by the Parliament, and this is a short time to judge the effect of the law. We believe employees are very vulnerable - especially groups of women with small children, women above the age of 40, people who live in the countryside, or the Roma as well as people who live with disabilities. This law means that every state-owned company that employs more than 50 people is obliged to prepare an equal opportunity program and firms are obliged to state what kind of measures and mechanisms are put to work in the interest of these vulnerable groups.

According to Lévai, Hungary’s National Civil Fund is a concept that could be emulated in Europe

Large multinational companies often have much more developed equal opportunity programs than Hungarian companies. This is a contradiction because we often curse the multinational companies by claiming that they are inhumane, and make people work so much. This legislation helps in supporting the philosophy, mentality and culture of equal treatment and opportunities. But there is always a gap between the law and its implementation. Employers have to realize that it is an obligation for them to prepare equal opportunity plans, or face being sanctioned. What we will do is to start programs where we support those companies that employ vulnerable groups, and supply them with either money or possibilities for free education in order to encourage them to employ women who are over 40. If they don’t meet the demands of the law, then this fact will be publicized through the media. I give interviews and I will tell the names, and so will my colleagues who also give interviews. Companies don’t tend to like that.

How will vulnerable groups like the Roma benefit from EU accession, or someone in eastern Hungary who already has a difficult life?

Katalin Lévai Changes will not be felt at the moment of accession itself, but a year or two after the accession period when the most vulnerable will begin to feel that something has changed. But we have the National Development Plan (NDP), and with this we have achieved something very important. Associated with the NDP we have prepared a compulsory equal opportunity plan. This impacts the use of resources, and points to taking into consideration equal opportunity in the spending of millions and billions of forints. It becomes a must, and is not an option. Whenever a project is tendered, whenever it is monitored, the principles of equal opportunity must be applied, and I think this is real mainstreaming. In previous government policy and practice, this was not used. I think this is a big development, and it means that groups like the Roma, women, etc. have real priority when a tender is issued.

Since the office for equal opportunity was created, there has been a wide range of interest groups that have lobbied for your attention. How do you go about making the tough decisions that might alienate some groups that look to you, such as your former conflict with Hungary’s prostitutes?

Katalin Lévai This is the only group that confronted me, and I am very sorry about that because we did a lot in the field where we could. But they asked for something which we do not have a mandate for, as we are not responsible for the districts where prostitutes can work. We are responsible in three areas concerning prostitution, the first is prevention, where we try to protect young children, young women and young men from becoming prostitutes. It means education, and that we did. We initiated many programs aimed at preventing prostitution, and we would also like to help the prostitutes. The second area we deal with is re-integration, where we help these individuals find jobs and other careers, since we do not believe that being a prostitute is a career. The final area is rehabilitation, and here we created the first crisis center in Hungary for all those women who are in danger and want to get legal aid. We did a lot of things to help in this field. Meanwhile, the prostitutes were not satisfied with it, and that is why we had a conflict.

You are at the top of the list of the Hungarian Socialist Party to become a representative in Brussels for the European Parliament. What issues are important and will you campaign on topics other than those dealt with by your current ministry?

Katalin Lévai At the moment the focus of my campaign is equal opportunities. In the broadest sense of the word, meaning that I speak for a social Europe. I speak about the future of Hungary, and the future of Europe. About all those issues that may concern people living in the countryside, like agriculture and the health care system. I really do not think that equal opportunity should be confined to those groups that we have been talking about. It means that every decision taken should take into account the perspective of equal treatment and equal opportunity. I want to see a social Hungary with a focus on issues of health, social, civil rights and those problems which may effect the majority of people.

Say you are now in Brussels, what is your stance on three main issues, such as Hungary and its economy, foreign policy and the population outside its borders. How would you represent Hungary in the European Parliament on those issues?

Katalin Lévai I know that our economy is developing, our figures have improved recently. Hungary is interested in how we can use resources that we will receive from the EU. We have to prepare organizations and people to be able to write good tenders and use resources in the most beneficial way. That is a job we have to do continually, especially for those regions that are most handicapped and underdeveloped. At the moment, we have been preparing different civil organization and companies in the countryside on how to be able to use these resources in a very effective way.

I do not want to exaggerate, but I believe Hungary takes a good position among accession countries, according to our economy, and our will to cooperate with others. But we have to develop, with other countries, a culture and more efficient coordination with those countries that have joined the EU. And in coordinating those roles we may play a leading role.

We can be a kind of bridge between new and old members. For the old members it’s an old marriage, while for the new members it’s a new love. The newly acceded countries can be stronger if we are in a group. That’s why I emphasize the role of working together. As for the Hungarian population outside Hungary’s borders, I think that so far we have good contacts with them, and this will not change. We think that it will take time for Romania to catch up with the EU, and we have to be helpful in this process because it is in everyone’s interest that all these countries be part of the big Europe.

Little is heard on Hungary taking a leading role in EU negotiations. As a smaller nation, how can Hungary spearhead it’s own agenda?

Katalin Lévai I think our National Civil Fund is something we can take with us to the EU. This fund is a kind of new art of cooperation between state and civil organizations. And it is based on autonomy and partnership. We have worked out a law for it, and created an institution. It is such a unique system and can be shown as a Hungarian specialty that other countries can learn from. It means that in Hungary, people can donate 1 percent of their income to civil organizations. Almost 50 percent of people do so. The government has then matched this amount of money, based on my proposal some months ago. We supported creation of an institution with a council and different bodies responsible for distributing the money. The government does not interfere with the distribution and working mechanisms. This means that 17 times as much money will be received by civil organizations this year than in the previous ones.

As for promoting Hungary, we will be in every commission in the European Parliament and we will have 24 representatives and we will keep together and agree on different subjects. If we stick together and remain strong, 24 people is not a very small group and then I think we can converge and coordinate with other countries.