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Citizens' forum held on Hungary as EU member
Real estate news By MTI (Subscription)
15 October 2007, Monday
Budapest, October 13 (MTI) - Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz opened a citizens' forum discussing Hungary's European Union membership, in Parliament on Saturday. The forum, organised by the European Commission Delegation to Hungary and the European Parliament's information office in Budapest, was held to challenge the findings of a recent survey on Hungary's first three years as an EU member by the Szonda-Ipsos polling firm.
The September survey found that 44 percent of Hungarians felt the first three years of EU membership had been disadvantageous to them and to their families, whereas only 33 percent said they found membership beneficial. Forty-seven percent said EU membership had been good for Hungary as a whole, while 40 said it had not. Fifty-three percent said that Hungary was being treated as a second-class citizen in the EU.
At the forum in Parliament 200 randomly selected citizens from across the country were given the opportunity to hold small group discussions with MEPs and experts in the questions raised in the poll. Goncz pointed out that every single EU member-nation had problems when it came to hearing the voices of its citizens. The forum was Hungary's attempt to give residents the chance to speak and be heard. She pointed to two main issues in her opening remarks, the use of EU funds and citizens' rights advocacy, adding that both were on the forum's agenda.
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