Attila Gere - wine producer

At 50, Attila Gere has every reason to feel satisfied, considering his achievements in the past one-and-a-half decades.

A self-confessed beer drinker in his former life, Gere’s father-in-law was the first to tempt him with a glass of Hungarian red wine. He abandoned his career as head of the forestry division of a state cooperative under the old regime and plunged wholeheartedly into the wine business.

The purchase of land followed, six hectares initially, scattered in 14 different lots. He sold his first wine at HUF 30 a liter to a local fishing cooperative. Today, Gere owns 50 hectares of the best land in the Villányi hills, and another 8.5 hectares with his Austrian business partner, Franz Weninger.

Together, they produce 400,000 bottles of red wine each year. Gere is watching Hungary’s accession to the European with a wary, but not fearful, eye. "I think we can expect a fierce competition for those wines with a shelf-price of between HUF 500 and HUF 3,000," he says. That means 60 percent of his own production.
" People will be tempted to taste foreign wines in the first few years," he says. But in the long run, he is confident people will return to the tastes they know. "It’s a common experience in the wine-producing countries," he says, "that people mainly drink their own."

In the meantime, he believes many Hungarian wine producers will go to the wall. Above all, those who have not invested in their equipment and their vines.
Gere is also a fierce critic of the present, Socialist-Liberal coalition government.
" Hungary has given up on its agriculture," he says bluntly. "Instead of helping the excellent fruit and vegetable growing possibilities in this country to flourish." He fears only the big companies will flourish in the EU.

" But the peasants are also guilty," he adds. "Many sat back and waited for someone to come and save them." There was some help under the previous, Fidesz government, he says, but that help has slipped out of reach.

Gere’s own plans for the future include the expansion of production – to a maximum half-million bottles a year, and an increase in exports – from the current 10 percent, to about 30 percent, he says cautiously. Current markets are mostly in continental Europe – Germany, Switzerland, Belgum, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark – he lists them slowly.

To cope with floods of visitors, Gere and his wife, Kati, set up a small bed and breakfast pension on the hill climbing out of the Village of Villanyi.

Magda Ujfalussy - pensioner

Seventy-year-old pensioner Magda Ujfalussy first heard about the idea of a unified Europe from her law professor father, László Galánthai Fekete. She fondly remembers a forward-looking man who talked about permeable borders and a common currency, all at a time when utopian and optimistic dreams of a so-called European Union or community were far-fetched, and even illicit.

Ujfalussy recalls with quiet pride that her father, in October 1944, an upper house representative, resigned his seat in protest when radicals took control of Hungary. He paid the price in years to come and was sentenced to jail for over seven years, in what she says was a conceptual trial by post-World War II communists.

Growing up under Communism was a continuous struggle for Ujfalussy’s family, as political injustices of the era prevailed. Because of her family background, the idea of studying was only a dream.

For 28 years she worked for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which she retired from in 1989. She then spent three years living and working in Canada. Upon returning to Hungary, she managed an arts and environment foundation, Nadasdy Foundation for Arts and Environment and developed a keen interest in Hungary’s development.

" We Hungarians have always been part of Europe," she maintains. "Taking an active part in all issues therefore the accession into the European Union is an evident process."

She hopes hard working and gifted people will have more opportunities under the EU, and will be able to attain equipment and materials with which they can develop and enhance their knowledge and talent in Hungary and abroad.. Ujfalussy stresses that she expects the leaders representing the people to be truly focused on the interests of Hungary and its citizens.

" We have to be cautious and alert about many things," she says. "We should not give up our sovereignty and we should fight for what we disagree with."

Ujfalussy believes the EU is no guarantee for a better life, but there is a possibility it will bring an upswing to the economy. Hungarians must also do their part. She also strongly feels that EU laws should allow the Hungarian government to foster a close relationship with ethnic Hungarians across the borders, which would lead to their interests being better represented.

" I think we have to pay attention to our country and our souls on top of choosing a clear and honest path to go down in the EU".

Péter Zwack - businessman

In Hungary, the name Péter Zwack is easily associated with Unicum, the more than 200-year-old Hungarian bitter. Zwack, a globetrotting father of seven children, today dominates half of Hungary’s domestic spirit market. In addition to his business career, he spent a bid in Washington as Hungary’s first ambassador to the United States following the change of system.

Zwack initially fled overseas in 1948, during Hungary’s forced nationalizations. It was in the United States that he married an American woman, and the couple had five children. Upon his return to Europe, he spent almost two decades in Italy - where he met his second wife and had two more children. He began marketing the bitter-sweet, dark-colored Unicum, in Italy and other countries.

Shortly before the change of the Hungarian régime in 1988, Zwack decided return to Hungary once again to produce Unicum. After repatriating his company, Zwack also became an independent MP in 1994 and then a Free Democrats MP in 2002.

“I undertook a political role wanting to support the country in to change in a positive direction,’’ he says. Zwack played an important role in the publicity campaign for Hungary’s referendum on NATO-membership, and conceives EU accession as a determinant moment in Hungarian history. “We can either belong to the club and be part of the western community, or stay in the Balkans,” he says.

Zwack believes the most significant change in the Hungarian spirits market, prompted by EU accession, is the abolishment of duties. As a result, Scotch whisky or fine vodkas will be less expensive in Hungary. According to Zwack, the domestic and foreign marketing of Hungarian wines – in which he also deals with – are facing the greatest challenges.

“Some Hungarian wines are unduly priced high, and therefore, the cheap wines streaming in from abroad mean a serious risk, initially in the home market as well. This means a great problem when selling Hungarian products abroad, that the ‘brand of socialism’ is still labeled on us, when we could not hold our own when it came to quality. Another difficulty is that there are no Hungarian restaurants abroad, while you can find thousands of Italian or French ones,” he adds.

In spite of these challenges, Zwack is optimistic. He believes the balance will be recovered after an initial euphoria, as it happened in Austria, where 80 percent of the wine market is dominated by domestic wines.

Zwack looks forward to life within the EU and hopes that decision-makers will sooner or later recognize the image of a country largely depends upon its wines and spirits.

Eszter Bosnyák - student

While Eszter Bosnyák has already had experience inside the EU, it wasn’t as pleasant as she would have liked! An interior design student, she supplements her income working in one of Budapest’s Internet cafés. After graduating high school, she followed her creative path, teaching children how to paint, after which she picked up her bags and moved to London for eight months. There, she sought perfect her English, but without a work permit she could not even work at a local coffee house.
" I don’t think that things will change in the next year," says Bosnyák. "Of course, we can be hopeful about the EU, but at the moment I don’t have that much confidence in it. While maybe it will mean more opportunities, but I don’t see that it will be quick, as there will be a period of transition."

Bosnyák sees any improvement from EU accession coming within the next two-to-three years. Until then, "we can just believe in the distant future." Her goal is find work outside Hungary and gain experience in a cultural institution, subsequently returning to Hungary to capitalize on the experience.

" The school that I’d want to go to would open doors to a new direction," Bosnyák says. "For instance, I would like to study store-front design, which has not really developed well in Hungary. Perhaps I could go to a school to study this field, and then come back in a few years with experience."

Attila Lindner - student

Attila Lindner, 21, attends the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration (BUESPA). Born in Budapest, Lindner attended Árpád Secondary School in the higher-level mathematic department, which paved the way to attendance math-based university.

Being a member of the László Rajk Specialist Hall inside BUESPA, Lindner attends professional courses – which the student hall pays for – in exchange for writing assignments and reports. "Finishing the university I plan, among many other ideas, to substantiate my theoretical economic studies abroad at a masters level, since BUESPA is not to strong in this field," says Lindner.
The European Union, he feels, is a road to a more prosperous future that Hungary has chosen. Lindner emphasizes that: "the Bologna Education Process, a joint higher education system within the European Union, is very appealing, since it will be easier to study abroad."

Linder believes there will be no spectacular changes following accession, nor in the short run, but opportunities will increase and economic and professional reasoning will take a more important role in politics, which he feels will be a positive change.

" People with professional knowledge and apprehensive minds can and will be able to travel and work abroad, thus the career opportunities that lie ahead of me will not change because of the accession," he says.

Ágnes Fodor - social worker

Born in Hajdunánás, eastern Hungary, Ágnes Fodor lived a relatively normal life until a sudden and severely fast-paced illness robbed her of sight. Overcoming the trauma of being blind at 17 years of age, she quickly sought new directions in her life.

The first step was to finish high school, with help and support from family, friends and a "talking" computer. After finishing a massage therapist course, Fodor was still skeptical about fitting into society. She underwent a rehabilitation program - with several other visually impaired and blind colleagues - and was taught how to do ordinary activities, like how to get around, make a bed and wash dishes. She also learned Braille, and was soon on her way to living an independent, full life.
" I always had great curiosity about new things, activities, which was a huge advantage once I became blind since I craved to find out what I - as a disabled person - could do with my life," she says. Attending the Gustav Bárci College in Budapest, she became a social worker and started working at the Motivation Foundation, which helps disabled persons.

Fodor now works at the National Blind and Visually Impaired Institution as the regional director of Budapest and Pest County.

" Last year, during the European year for the blind and visually impaired, the Hungarian media portrayed people with disabilities who are neither pathetic nor lost, but to the contrary, as people who are living a full life … which is pretty amazing in itself," Fodor says. "The general viewpoint began shifting, beckoning Hungary to become a more integral part of Europe."

Fodor sees the European Union as opportunities for employment, income growth and education. She also thinks negative and positive discrimination will be reduced as a result of accession. She emphasized that such change, including the shift in attitude, might be hard to accept for someone who is 40 or 50 years old, who under Communism was granted numerous benefits for being disabled.

" We have to get used to the fact that in order to be integrated into society, the blind also have to be productive members of society and accomplish things," she adds. "We all have to grow up and deal with the upcoming new freedom, independence and the countless possibilities that come with it, this is a task for the whole Hungarian society, not only for the blind."

András Hajós - musician, television personality

András Hajós is the front man of the music band, Emil Rulez!, a group which has steadily gained popularity among Budapest youth. He has also established himself as a stand-up comic on Hungarian television. Hajós also served as press adviser to the Budapest mayor, as well as having worked for several notable Hungarian and international companies.

Popularity came fast and furious for the amateur Emil Rulez! The group only had four songs to its name that even the composers could not keep up with the band’s success, they had to keep their pens writing. Hajós spent his downtime on stage, improvising, which led the way to yet another form of entertainment - stand-up comedy. His success in stand-up was resounding, and he later ended up spening several million HUF of his own money to produce a TV pilot that was finally picked up by Hungarian commercial broadcaster TV2.

But the story of Hajós’s television career was short, but spectacular, being picked up by two different television broadcasters in one year.

As faith would have it, the decision to cancel his second TV show was made just as he got wind of important international acknowledgement for his work in television.

The Hungarian British Council selected Hajós as the most outstanding television personality in Hungary, enabling him to take part in a cultural program for new EU members in London, a project initiated by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

" I don’t expect Tony Blair to start throwing millions of pounds at me at dinner and for them to buy a sports car for me and allow me to do what I want with the rest … but I don’t think that it’s more of a risk to pitch a TV program to a company from London, than to produce a pilot on my own here without any contacts in the television world," says Hajós.

Hajós believes that if we stop viewing Europe as a distant, unattainable concept, then it will remain far only in the physical sense, and not in the psychological. He doesn’t believe in the abolition of borders, he says, since they have not been closed of late in any case.

" I recently visited the Hungarian countryside and saw people who surely will never get to a foreign country because it is simply a question of money and knowledge of languages."

He thinks that it is hard to succeed in the television world abroad, and that being a performer and having an impact on people can only be achieved in your native language.

" I switch on the Jay Leno show and I think that I understand what’s going on, then unexpectedly the audience starts to laugh at a part where I heard a conjunction," he says.

Hajós thinks the last 15 years was enough for Hungarians to find out that no matter which country they live in, they can live in a European way at home – even if the Europeans themselves are not behaving in a European way

Judit Kis - singer

Judit Kis has come a long way since she practiced singing into a hairspray bottle at the age of four. A decade later, at 15, she moved from Szolnok to Budapest to study music, and today, at almost 30 years of age, she has four albums under her belt. Her first release, in 1995, was a solo entitled "Judy," while the others she released as the lead singer and dynamic front personality of Hungary’s popular musical band, "Groovehouse." Her latest albums have gone gold and platinum, and the band continues to get receive much radio exposure. Witty, charismatic and very busy, Judy performs anywhere between two and 20 concerts in one week.

Most of the shows are in discos and clubs around the country, where facilities often lack in comfort and technology. Judy recalls when tables had been pushed together to act as a stage, or when she lost her voice because of an echo or poor quality sound systems. But recently there has been progress, she says, as club owners begin to comply with European Union regulations. Mandatory change rooms and washrooms for performers are being built, and technical facilities for live shows are improving, in line with EU standards.

Judy feels these are all steps in the right direction, and she can only hope morale in the Hungarian music industry continues to grow.

" Right now, the market is invaded with non-professionals and anybody can put out an album. Everyone can sing and dance, and everyone is an artist," she says satirically. She hopes that with EU accession, more of a distinction will be made between professional and amateur artists, and that those artists which have studied or been performing for years will receive the recognition and financial compensation they deserve.

Groovehouse is very popular in surrounding countries, and has played sold-out performances in Romania, Yugoslavia, Slovakia and Ukraine. They have also played Hungarian community centers in New York and Toronto, and now looks to Western Europe as a new area of expansion. Judy realizes her disadvantage at singing in the Hungarian language, and admits to speaking only basic level English.

" Naturally we would be interested if somebody called us to produce an album in English. If we felt that it could bring us forward, which it probably could, we would rewrite the songs in English in order to join the international market. We are open to anything."

György Makula - police officer

Lt. György Makula, 24, has worked as a police officer in the Budapest Police’s Crime Prevention Unit for the last three years. He is among the few policeman in the capital who openly professes his Roma background.

" There are too few Roma in the police. I’m by no means the only one, but others feel the need to suppress their identity," he says.

Budapest’s police force has rapidly woken up to his value, and he spends part of his time trying to persuade his own community that cops are not all bad. The other part of his job involves persuading police that Roma are not all thieves. It’s uphill work.

" I’m looking forward to EU membership above all, because I hope it will change peoples’ mentality," Makula says, "to look at minorities in a more positive light."
He hopes the emphasis on human rights in the European Union will also improve the opportunities to share information with officers involved in relations between police and ethnic minorities in other member states.

His own foreign contacts began a year ago, with a three-week visit to Britain. In March, three officers from the UK were in Hungary, and in the same month, Makula gave a paper at the "Pride not Prejudice" conference in Derbyshire on the often-problematic relations between British Roma, travelers and police.

Hungary’s 1992 Data Protection Act forbids keeping records that record a person’s ethnic background. This prevents the small letter “c” – for cigány being placed next to school or work or criminal files. But it is also a double-edged sword – it prevents police officers like Makula from lobbying for the recruitment of Roma police officers to the police force.

So far, Hungarian police have not had much success recruiting Roma, Makula says, but adds that they are trying.

Scholarships have been offered to middle-school pupils who pledge to go to police college when they graduate. Public days have been held for children, Roma included, where motorbike police, those on horseback and dog handlers interact with the kids.

Makula also tours schools in the capital, hoping to encourage students and teachers with his example.

" I’m trying to show the Roma that the police are supposed to protect all citizens, including them," he says. Compared to Britain, France or Germany, Hungary has one advantage – the Roma are a single, large community, in contrast to many diverse minorities in the other countries. That means information about their culture, taught to police officers, is less likely to deteriorate into popular prejudices and stereotypes which minority leaders complain about in Britain – of the "Saris, Samosas and Steel Bands" variety.

Zoltán Erdős - railway employer and wine producer

Zoltán Erdős, 54, juggles his time between two jobs; situated about 50 meters in distance from each other. The first job sits atop a small hill, the Erdős Borkatakomba, where Erdős and his wife produce and sell different varieties of Tokaj wine, in addition to catering to busloads of tourists who visit the wine cellar annually for samples of the world-famous Tokaj wine.

His second job sits at the bottom of the slope, across several sets of train tracks and inside the MÁV train station. There, Erdős works as MÁV’s director of rails, covering an area that spans from Mezőzombor to Nyiregyháza in eastern Hungary. Erdős has worked at MÁV since 1968, after graduating from a Budapest university specializing in train mechanics and engineering.

Born in Tokaj, Erdős grew up around grape farming and winemaking. His prized possession is a 1940 bottle of Tokaj wine from his wife’s grandparents. So after graduation, Erdős eventually came back to Tokaj to help farm the land his family grew grapes on. Erdős began producing his own wines in the mid-90s, farmed from two-and-a-half hectares of land on the Tokaj Mountain – land that was already in the Erdős family and some of which he bought himself.

“With a lot of work and effort it is good here,” he says, referring to business at his wine cellar. “But I could never give up my day job at MÁV.”

Erdős, a big man with a big smile, says he is hopeful Hungary’s European Union accession will bring even more tourists to the already-popular Tokaj region, although he harbors fears about increased competition from winemakers in countries such as Portugal, Spain and South Africa.

“I’m not scared that Tokaj wine won’t sell, but foreign wine will be more easily available here now, and domestic wine may not sell nearly as well as before,” he says. “It’s a bit scary, the future, but I know Tokaj will always be around as a specialty.”

Economically speaking, Erdős says he is not holding his breath. “On May 2nd, I’ll still be here making my wine and harvesting the grapes, I don’t even see changes in the next five years.”

He does hope, however, that down the road EU accession will bring more employment to eastern Hungary, an area that is known for high levels of poverty and unemployment. “I’d like to see the wine producers have enough work to sell their products around the clock.”

Ágnes Szabó - entrepreneur

Ágnes Szabó looks directly in the eyes and tells it as it is, with a steadfast conviction of Hungary’s future within the European Union. A trained architect, Szabó has run the Studio 1800 antique shop since 1983. In the past 20 years, however, the original undertaking branched into a drapery outlet and advertising and public relations firm, run jointly with her son.

Asked of her views on European Union accession, Szabó is unreservedly positive, beginning with a quick and precise rundown on Hungary’s last 70 years. She explains that Hungary has been continually overrun, robbed and exploited — but has endured.

" We are a tremendously resourceful people," she says. "We face our problems, solve them and then move on."

Szabó does not expect Hungary to enter the EU as a "poor sister," condemned to be a service-provider to the industrial engines of Germany and France. Rather, she is confident the country will quickly adjust and take advantage of new opportunities to create wealth, making it a profitable market for EU goods. What about the young? Won’t they leave for greener pastures? Initially, yes, she says, "But they will return in time."

Zita Görög - model, tv-presenter

She is a cat-eyed, slender, brown-haired woman with a dark-complexion. Zita Görög was born in a mining village hidden in the picturesque forests of the Mátras, called Nagybátony.

Görög gained fame in the modeling profession and has lived far from her family since the age of 15. She first appeared in a fashion show with supermodel Laetitia Casta in Paris, which jettisoned her to six years travel, taking her to catwalks in Milan, Taiwan, Tokyo and Tel-Aviv before she settled down in New York. She has toured in as many countries as the number of years that she has lived, and at age 24, Görög has returned home. The events of Sept. 11, 2001, changed her life, and it was largely because of this she chose not renew her contract in New York. Since then she has been working as a TV presenter and working on her own show, film magazine "Cinematrix." She was also the hostess of "Megasztár," the highly popular musical talent scout program. Many people, however, think Görög is at the start of a serious carrier in the film business: two years ago she played a part in American thriller "Den of Lions" with Stephen Dorf and Bob Hoskins, and then in the action movie "Underworld," currently showing in Budapest cinemas.

She hopes European Union accession will make Budapest not a metropolis but rather a more livable city "for those who use public transport like me. It is almost a tragic burden to see the present state of beautiful Budapest. Dirt, bad public security, subways packed with homeless people, chaos in traffic, noise, not a tree in sight. One of the most beautifully situated cities of Europe and its inhabitants deserve more than this. I hope that we will catch up with ourselves."

István Faragó Szabó - philosopher, university lecturer

It is difficult to get into professor Faragó Szabó’s lectures at ELTE. He always arrives precisely on time, dressed with impeccable elegance to the packed lecture halls.

Professor Szabó has degrees in literature and philosophy and has been a prominent teacher at the Institute of Philosophy since the 1970s. He was the first teacher at the institute who was not a member of the former communist party. At the time, the adulation of Marxism-Leninism was the route for most lecturers to follow. Szabó dealt instead with analytic philosophy and logical positivism, as well as figures of British philosophy, such as Locke, Berkeley and Hume. He has also translated their works, considered classics today.

It is not only his philosophical oeuvre, but his private life that is marked by his devotion for beauty and art. His wife, also a teacher, founded a company that specializes in quality leatherware following the systemic changes – a firm that gained acclaim for its luxury products. Thus, the professor and his wife began to indulge in two passions at the same time: collecting paintings and art objects and fashion. Besides having been selected as one of the best dressed men last year by Elite magazine, Szabó has a talent for fashion design manifested in mens shirts, briefcases and other leather goods that he himself designed.

Szabó said he looks forward to accession, but not without a tinge of skepticism, citing the dangers of a potential unification of the educational system.

" The ELTE Institute of Philosophy has been gaining success since the 90s," he says, "and it has to be said that we are talking about an elite institution with international prestige. Its teachers and former students can be found at many renowned universities from Cambridge to Heidelberg. Unfortunately with the introduction of the two-stage educational system, a process of commercialization has started in Europe that is very difficult to avoid."

Szabó also questions plans for teaching philosophy in a three-year period, with further reservations about the Bologna Process in education. His criticisms are supported by his claim that there is very little time to introduce the proposed changes, and that the unification of local features will be forced. This means that job opportunities for people with the lower grade BA are not guaranteed. On the other hand, the situation of PHD students and fellow professionals may improve, he says, since in principle they will be admitted to any European university without difficulty.

Péter Zoltán - pastry chef

An old-fashioned café on Csanády Street in Budapest’s XIII District has barely changed in the last 40 years. The same pictures of ice cream cones are part of a décor familiar to regulars. Péter Zoltán has been a pastry chef at Napsugár Cukrászda since he graduated in 1992, and last July he and a partner took over the business, which has slowly yet steadily been growing.

Zoltán’s favorite desserts are homemade jam pastries, as gerbeauds and ischlers, yet he and two others prepare more than 60 different kinds of sweets and baked goods in the café’s large kitchen. These goodies embellish the glass cases in the coffee shop’s small front room, which is often busy with regular clientele. Most of Napsugár’s business, however, comes from the 10 to 12 daily deliveries Zoltán makes to boats and restaurants around the city.

The 30-year-old pastry chef-turned-boss feels it is too early for Hungary to join the European Union. While he voted for accession, he believes it has been rushed and that it will be a long time - at least 10 years - before Hungary is anywhere close to Western European standards.

Zoltán says he has felt the onset of the EU for the past year and a half, with the pressure to comply with new EU standards. These preparations have also given him motivation to freshen up his business, with a new coat of paint and more modern appliances, yet he doesn’t see all the advantages just yet.

" There is much too much paperwork, and every detail has to be noted," he explains. "How cold the fridges are, who cleans, with what they clean, when and why. These specifics, I think, are unnecessary." Although he does believe that, in time, Hungarians will benefit from joining the EU, he doesn’t expect things will change much for him or his business.

" Big companies, those that were doing international business before, will benefit much more," he continues. "We are a small company. I don’t think that we could go abroad, as a pastry shop, even within the EU. That’s all right, though, because our territory is here, in this little neighborhood. I just want to make sure that the level we have now remains."

Ágnes Lackófi - nurse

As head nurse of the neurology department at Uzsoki Hospital in Budapest, Ágnes Lackófi says she has too many roots tying her to Hungary than to move and live in other parts of Europe. For her, becoming a nurse was her natural path.

" The subject of European Union does not come up so much in nursing circles, since not many of the nurses know foreign languages," says Lackófi. "Despite language barriers, young and adventurous nurses in our hospital, for example, are looking forward to trying their hand working in the EU," she says.

Lackófi highlighted the importance of being able to travel without barriers and borders, which "has been increasing since the 1989 transition."

" I think there will not be fast and concrete changes in the short run," explains Lackófi.

" Only when other less developed countries like Ukraine and Romania join the EU will Hungary witness greater changes."

Until then, she feels nurses will flee toward other EU countries where salaries and wages are higher, thus leaving Hungary in an even more difficult employment state when it comes to medicine.

" I don’t know exactly what I’m expecting or hoping from the accession, but I’m afraid I have too many strings tying me to Hungary," she admits.

" If my family would decide to move I would fully support it, since I still have a go-ahead attitude."

With the expanding possibilities of employment and opportunities, she might just drift to a foreign country, but at this particular period she feels Hungary and Uzsoki Hospital is where she belongs.

Anna Csöndes - student

Anna Csöndes looks to her future in Hungary’s gardens and greenery. A 22-year-old student majors in horticulture at the University of Horticulture and Food Industry. Csöndes feels that no person can be neutral when it comes to the European Union, and she supports Hungary’s accession and the possibilities that stem from it.

" I feel that it will only bring positive changes to my life. With the opening of the borders, I will be able to travel more freely," she says.

Regarding the opportunity to move to another country, she explains: "I don’t have the feeling that I am only Hungarian, and that I only have to live in Hungary. When the time comes and I feel that I have to move on, I will, but only to neighboring countries so that I can visit my friends and family whenever I feel like it."

In relation to the environment and its protection, she hopes that people will pay more attention to selective recycling – if necessary with having to pay a penalty fee for producing too much garbage - although, "If I look around me and the way people are acting with garbage, then I am totally pessimistic of positive changes in this area."