Hungarian-American Leaders Conference

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Louise Johnston
5 years ago
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1 Foreign Minister Martonyi the Hungarian government is aware of its special responsibility towards the Hungarian diaspora abroad this new responsibility is also acknowledged in the new constitution instead of Hungarians across the border ( határon túli magyarság ) we shall rather use the term Hungarians outside of the border ( határon kívüli magyarság ) which is more inclusive of the overseas Hungarian diaspora we see a new renaissance within the Hungarian diaspora, many who have a dormant Hungarian identity are becoming conscious of their roots: so far, we have registered ca. 300,000 new citizenship applications and about 200,000 citizenships have been awarded while it is important to preserve the Hungarian language abroad and among the 2 nd and 3 rd generation Hungarian-Americans, speaking Hungarian should not be a requirement to qualify as an active member of the Hungarian diaspora Ambassador Szapáry we are looking to expand our network of honorary consuls they are an important asset and we look to the community to provide suggestions. for some major projects of importance we would appreciate every support (financial, intellectual and connections): o SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL o MUSEUM OF VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM o HUNGARIAN CHAPEL IN THE SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION IN DC The government will do everything possible to provide easy access to citizenship applicants and facilitate voter registration: please keep members of your community informed about the recent and upcoming changes in registration and let us know if there is a critical mass of applicants to hold off-site consular days in your community. BETTER INCLUSION OF THE HU-AM COMMUNITY (ANNA STUMPF) DIASPORA COUNCIL (feedback and next steps) Participants of the Diaspora Council agreed that the inclusion of overseas representatives is an important gesture, sharing the agenda in advance was helpful. It would be important to announce the date of the conference much sooner (at least half a year in advance) preferably in early October and also to have youth organizations and the new generation represented at the Diaspora Council s meeting.

2 László Hámos promised to share the transcript of the PM s speech with everyone. HRFA offered to help with the Julianus Program which takes stock of the inventory of Hungarian assets abroad. We agreed that the formation of a North American Diaspora Council (of the ca. 20 US and 15 Canadian organizations) which would meet maybe twice a year either in person or via Skype would be important to coordinate interests and efforts related the Hu-Am community. This could happen on the margins of the HATOG conference next Spring in CA or wherever the community suggests. The Embassy is happy to participate but preferably only at certain panels of the discussion. INFORMATION SHARING & COMMUNICATION participants agreed that the establishment of a US specific newsletter would be very helpful to spread information about the government s policies backgrounders, info sheets and fact sheets would be critically important for leaders of the community to understand the efforts of the government and its contexts these should be concise, tuned to American ears and with short but relevant information, US examples some suggested the establishment of an unaffiliated umbrella community portal to gather every US diaspora related information about news, events, organizations, etc. Max Teleki drew attention to the Gulyás Pot which was established for this purpose. To avoid duplication, the community should explore the most efficient way of gathering information in one portal. MEDIA & PR Local newspapers could serve as an effective conduit for Hungary related news - the community and the Embassy should focus more on targeting smaller news outlets. Paul Kamenar suggested that the Embassy should have a multi-faceted PR approach and have a good media mix to promote its message (Press relaeases, op-eds, blogposts and facebook) and focus more on the Washington Times and the Examiner. Bad policy will always make for bad news especially given the negative narrative. The HU gov should be much more forward leaning and preemptive in its communication of larger legislative issues and pre-frame debates. EMBASSY WEBSITE Good but there is room for improvement. Hu-Am organization listing and useful documents section should be more prominent and visible. Participants promised to check whether their own organization and others that they know of are listed with the correct contact information and send updated information.

3 RE-CONNECT HUNGARY Although the Kossuth Foundation (László Hámos) took the lead on the program along with the Balassi Intézet all organizations should feel ownership and are welcome to contribute. Based on the pilot program s experience the age limit will probably be lifted. Interest was very high despite the very short deadline. In 2013 the program will be announced well in advance. Gov. Pataki s active participation really boosted interest. It seems to be a reasonable requirement for participants to pay their own trip, so that component is unlikely to change. The program could also develop an internship arm in Hungary. Dual citizens are more than welcome at the Hungarian Embassy in DC to intern. PART II. NEW OPPORTUNITIES /IDEAS ON THE BILATERAL AGENDA 1. Security Policy and Defense issues (Ferenc Kalmár pol-mil officer, Col. Bóné defense attaché) Hungary s military contributions and security policy are our real policy strengths. Hungary is a reliable Ally: Our political-military commitment to the mission in Afghanistan remains unchanged: in together out together. Our actual military engagement is undergoing a significant change: The PRT in Baghlan province will be gradually phased out until March A new role has been assumed by providing Force Protection at the Kabul International Airport (KAIA) from 1 October. This means a temporary increase in our troop contribution. Hungary s military presence will be sustained after 2014 via mentoring and training activities. Our aim is to project stability: With our V4 partners, we implement joint projects to promote democracy and Euro-Atlantic integration in our Southern and Eastern neighborhood. Hungary will simultaneously hold the presidencies of the Central European Initiative (CEI) (1 Jan 31 Dec 2013) and V4 (1 Jul Jun 2014) = Year of Central Europe. Advantages of the two formats to create synergies. During the YCE, we will present the mutual benefits of deep CE cooperation not only to the European but also to our global partners incl. the US. The Embassy will increase the visibility of the Visegrád Four cooperation by demonstrating its value added in pursuing shared foreign policy objectives. We would suggest for the community to do the same. Eg. V4 concerts in cooperation with the local ethnic communities, etc. The Embassy would also suggest to highlight the importance of Hungary s military and NATO contributions as a bedrock of our bilateral relations. Next year, we will celebrate the 20 th anniversary of the bilateral cooperation between the Ohio National Guard and the Hungarian Defense forces. Defense Minister Csaba Hende will

4 be visiting both DC and OH on this occasion for OH leaders: please be thinking about ways to celebrate this with the local community and political leaders. 2. Trade and economic relations (Katalin Csorba, trade representative) See Kati s presentation outline attached. The Embassy can always use help in identifying members of the Hu-Am community with business interest and boosting the flow of economic and business information between the Diaspora and the trade sections of the embassy and the consulates The 56 at 56 event was a great success from the sponsorship aspect we will continue to solicit outside sources of funding, especially due to our budgetary cut backs. Suggestions for business partners are always welcome! 3. Cultural Affairs (György Rétházi, cultural attaché) Smithonian Folklife Festival: As soon as the cooperation agreement is signed between the Smithsonian Institute and the Balassi Institute the Embassy will inform the Hungarian communities/organizations on that fact and the Embassy will also keep the Hungarian communities/organizations regularly informed about the preparations of the Folklife Festival. Max Teleki expressed reservations about the status of the agreement and some frustration about the slowness of the HU govt to come to an agreement with the organizers. The Embassy will plan to set up a list of possible side-events in which local organizations might also join in. It was suggested by Csilla Grauzer that organizations apply for local state funds/grants for sponsoring cultural activities and team up with other ethnic organizations to apply for these funds. Hungarian communities/organizations are kindly asked to keep us informed about their possible events for next year which we may include as a possible side-event, or may add to the festival; Hungarian organizations are also asked to examine their possible resources (human/ financial/ possible local resources) which they are able to contribute to the Festival The Embassy will keep the Hungarian communities/ organizations regularly informed in advance about the artists performing at the Embassy in order to organize the a round trip to Hungarian communities in other parts of the US. In return, the Hungarian communities/organizations are also asked to keep us informed about the artists/performers invited by them/ or visiting their communities for the same reasons as mentioned above.

5 4. Citizenship applications, registration process (István Sándor, consul) There s a common misbelief that those who left or fled Hungary especially during the communist era would have lost their Hungarian citizenship. That s just not true. If somebody was born in the actual territory of Hungary and was registered as Hungarian citizen that person is probably still a Hungarian citizen. Moreover, his/her children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren are Hungarian citizens, because they obtained Hungarian citizenship by birth. Therefore what these people have to do is not to apply for citizenship but for the verification of their citizenship. Ambassador Károly Dán is working with a Hungarian IT network developing group to map out the Hungarian diaspora and will need help in boosting participation in the mapping process. According to the late4st census it appears that the Hungarian-American diaspora grew by 135,000 and now counts ca. 1,5 million. The South has seen most the largest population growth proportionally. For those whose parents or grandparents, or themselves were born and are or have been living in territories that today belong to Slovakia, the Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, or Croatia, the so called simplified naturalization process applies. They have to find an ancestor who at least for one moment of his/her life was a Hungarian citizen, and the lineage can be proven with birth and marriage certificates. We constantly organize out-posted consular days to the different regions and cities of the country to receive all kinds of citizenship cases and passport applications. From now on, we also have a mobile appliance for taking biometric data for passport applications which makes possible almost any kind of consular activity on an open day like this. The issue of who will represent the overseas vote was brought up - which was a very valid point and highlights one of the main consequences of the voting law changes, the exporting of the political campaign season. Hu-Am organizations should make their demands and interests clear to the political parties in Hungary. Local organizations can help spread the information about these possibilities and encourage fellow Hungarians to make use of them and inform us about the demand. You can also help in scheduling the applicants and making a time-table for the consul. It was suggested that the Home Page of the Embassy include a brief NOT OFFICIAL questionnaire, which one can used to go through and can test if he she could become a Hungarian citizen. This can be a fun and interesting as well as helpful tool to generate interest and lead persons to this and they can immediately see if they can qualify for the Citizenship. We would also like to expand our network of honorary consuls and we count on the advice and suggestion of local community leaders. For the first task a candidate with Hungarian roots and with a certain knowledge of Hungarian is preferable but not required, local businessmen, lawyers or other professional are also suitable.

6 PARTICIPANTS LIST 1. Dr. Louis S. Segesvary - American Hungarian Federation 2. Mrs. Edith Lauer - Hungarian American Coalition 3. Ms. Grauzer Csilla - Minnesota Hungarians 4. Mr. László Hámos - Hungarian Human Rights Foundation 5. Mr. Julius Jancsó - Amerika Magyar Hírlap 6. Mr. Ferenc Koszorús - American Hungarian Federation 7. Mr. Imre Lendvai-Lintner - Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség 8. Mr. Kálmán Magyar - Amerikai Magyar Múzeum 9. Mr. Max Teleki - Hungarian American Coalition 10. Mr. Ágoston Molnár - American Hungarian Foundation 11. Mr. Paul D. Kamenar, Esq - American Hungarian Federation 12. Mr. Balázs Somogyi - Hungarian Cultural Society of Connecticut 13. Mr. Zoltán Gidófalvi - House of Hungary, San Diego 14. Ms. Enikő Molnár Basa - American Hungarian Educators Association 15. Ms. Gabriella Nádas - Hungarian Association of Cleveland 16. Mr. Peter Kovalszki - Magyar Baráti Közösség 17. Ms. Zsuzsa Stanfield - Washingtoni Magyar Amerikai Szövetség 18. Rev. Leslie Martin - Executive Director, Kossuth Foundation 19. Bryan Dawson - American Hungarian Federation 20. Ambassador Károly Dán - Hungarian Consulate General New York 21. Consul General László Kálmán - Hungarian Consulate General Los Angeles Organizer/ Embassy Contact: Anna Stumpf Congressional Liaison Political Attaché Embassy of Hungary Cell: astumpf@mfa.gov.hu

Introduction GÁBOR CZOCH ATTILA PAPP Z.

Introduction GÁBOR CZOCH ATTILA PAPP Z. GÁBOR CZOCH ATTILA PAPP Z. Introduction For a long time, leaders of Hungarian groups in the United States have urged that the responsible parties in Hungary undertake a scientific analysis of the current