On the 29th of October, the Center for European Enlargement Studies, with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Budapest, launched a new lecture series entitled “The Seven Neighbors of Hungary- Questions of Historical Reconciliation and Cooperation in the 21st Century”. The lecture series is intended to treat critically the topic of diplomatic and historical reconciliation of Hungary with its seven neighbors. The conferences bring together diplomats, academic expertise, and views from young scholars from the area.

The first event in the lecture series was dedicated to Hungary’s relationship with Romania. The rich and contiguous history of the two countries, and, as CENS Director, Péter Balázs pointed out in his introduction, significance and challenging nature meant that it represented a natural first choice. He went on to underline the importance of historical and diplomatic reconciliation, and to highlight the unfinished nature of such processes in Eastern Europe. The line was picked up by the main presenter, His Excellency, Alexandru Victor Micula, the Ambassador of Romania to Hungary. The Ambassador chose five key-words around which he centered his talk: confidence, dialogue, solidarity, perseverance, and vision. He resumed the post 1989 history of the relationship between the two countries, coding it as a history of mutual confidence and seeking to build a strong bilateral relationship. He then went on to describe Hungary’s unmitigated support toward Romania in the processes of accession to international organizations, such as NATO and the EU. The Ambassador also showed the high stake both countries share in the economic field, with high trade ( a bilateral trade record in 2011) and mutual investments.  The two countries common initiatives within the European Union, such as the Danube Strategy, also make up a key element in the bilateral relationship. The Ambassador also mentioned the pivotal role of the national minority of Hungarians from Romania as a bridge between the two countries.

The audience reacted positively to the two presentations, addressing and raising critical questions to the ambassador. The main areas were those of common policy, the questions of national minorities and cultural cooperation. A discussion on these issues developed, that led prof. Balázs to conclude that the historical and diplomatic reconciliation have made great strides in the last two decades; nevertheless, they constitute a work in progress and there are still a number of issues to be resolved.