Embassies of nations in the European Union opened their doors this past Saturday for all visitors who wanted to get acquainted with the geography, culture and culinary delights of various European countries. Ambitious embassy- hoppers know that the secret to eating your way through the foreign snacks is to start early, before the lines get long. However, this Saturday, even the lines were manageable. The Hungarian Embassy awaited visitors with freshly made pogácsa, pálinka tasting, home-made gulyás, and a vizsla playground in the yard of the embassy.
Once visitors managed to get inside (a 15 minute wait), everyone enjoyed the festive atmosphere, the pleasant conversation and the networking with the vizslas in the back. It was a great opportunity for picture taking as well. It was a true family day.
However, in the backdrop, things in the EU are not as festive these days. Cameron’s convincing victory was a curve ball into the plate of the Brussels elite. Recently Martin Schulz rejected even bringing up the topic of the death penalty as a national discussion point with the prime minister of Hungary. The disciplinarians’ Europe carries on with its federal instinct and superpower ways of telling everyone how to act and behave, what to say and how to say it, how to work, eat and smile. The politically correct autocrats warned that any discussion of the death penalty in itself is anti-democratic. Well, well, well… Tell this to the Americans with whom the same EU elite is about to promulgate a free trade agreement. There is not even a chance that the US will drop the death penalty at any time soon.
Today, however, belonged to the cheers and happiness of being a European here in Washington as well. I visited 4 embassies: the Hungarian, Czech, Slovak and Austrian embassies. All provided great hospitality and a pleasant experience overall not only for us, but for Americans who came by the thousands. Unity in diversity! The Brussels elite needs to remember that every day. The strength of the union is with the nations and the diversity that these nations offer.
Furthermore, Europe will be successful if it is able to reduce the huge income discrepancies, and the divergent wealth and standard of living parameters of all member countries. And one more thing: let all nations decide their own domestic policies without any interference from Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, and/or London.
Adam Topolansky
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I would like to take the opportunity to remedy an oversight that occurred in one of my previous articles (The Story of Árpádhon). While I did cite the original source of some of the historical references (Royanne Kropog: The Story of Árpádhon), I neglected to mention the book review from which I also merited and its author, so I am hereby compensating for that: Anna Szentgyörgyi, Review of the Story of Árpádhon, Americana international journal (ISSN: 1787-4637), Fall 2014, Vol X. No. 2.
