As part of their Poems of Liberty series, the European Dialogue Programme of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and the Hungarian Free Market Foundation are launching a new edition under the motto Project Europe 2050!
It used to be easy to gain a lot of information from the way a person looked. You might try it today in Europe, and still get it right in at least some of the cases, but you will be completely baffled once an American walks into a room.
It is a basic need for every human being to connect with others. Social psychology classifies the need for connection as one of the basic human motives, since humans are essentially social beings. Belonging somewhere has countless advantages. But what about when it’s not a partnership or a group, but a crowd?
If works of fiction taught us anything, it is that imaginary creatures should have rights as well. Can this be translated to real life and to real rights?
Russia. The word still evokes images of conspiracy behind gray concrete blocks, while a strong military marches through the streets in a tour de force of the iron hand that rules the harsh country. The Kremlin was working hard to ensure that this stereotype, of influential and ruthless Soviet toughness, is exaggerated. Disinformation, ostentatious secret service operations and bellicose rhetoric all served this illusion.
Europe. It is an area. It is an idea. It is a culture. It is a collection of diverse people and countries. It is a work in progress. It is ever-changing, ever-twisting, shaped by its people. Europe is a complex idea. The latest edition of Poems of Liberty, a publication by The Friedrich Naumann Foundation, European Dialogue and the Free Market Foundation aims to encapsulate it through poems.
Bad leaders beget even worse successors. That is why it is important to safeguard democratic values from bad leaders in the first place.
There are private solutions, for healthcare, schools, and transport. They are popular or at least coveted. Yet, there is a catch. The state always lurks beneath the surface. Many taxi companies are owned by cronies and have a huge lobbying power. There is a fixed rate and no competition in Budapest.
As far as power goes, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán cannot complain. His party, Fidesz recently won its 4th consecutive elections, with a supermajority no less.
The war in Ukraine disrupted the illusory peace in Europe. Illusory, because Russia has always been a looming threat to the integrity of the continent, albeit in a less tangible way than a full-on war.
