I recently moved into a new flat in Budapest. This morning a young heating engineer came to attach thermostats to my radiators. He was friendly and talkative. Noticing that I had a lot of books about the Roma on my shelves he reminded me of István Csurka’s proposal that a part of Hungary should be set aside for the Roma and that the entire Roma population of the country – over half a mill should be resettled there. It was clear to me that the heating engineer thought this was an excellent idea!
I wish I could say that this young man was an exception and that most people in Hungary do not harbour prejudices about the Roma. Unfortunately, that’s far from the case. And Csurka, whose extreme rightwing party, MIEP, has fared badly in recent elections, has been overtaken by another far-right party, JOBBIK. According to some polls, JOBBIK is now the second most popular political party in the country, outstripping the left-of-centre MIEP.
26 December 2011
