Jim Murphy

Visiting Hungary next week

I'm going to Hungary next week for meetings on Europe (making it more competitive, creating more jobs and growth, making it more secure and prosperous in the face of globalisation) and the range of foreign policy issues on the agenda at the moment.
 
I'm also going to discuss human rights and tolerance with my Hungarian counterpart  who recently hosted the 1st Budapest Human Rights Forum. The Hungarian government is trying hard to integrate better its 10% Roma minority, which faces problems of exclusion and intolerance. Some people might have seen the film Happy New Life by Arpad Bogdan - a young Hungarian film director who spent his childhood in an orphanage, and who has examined the issues faced by a generation of Roma like him in his new film.  Last week the BBC screened a documentary about Mr Bogdan - entitled "Looking for my Gypsy Roots".  I will meet the  documentary's producer/director, Antonia Meszaros, at an event at the British Embassy.  The situation of the Roma in Hungary and Central Europe is a complex one - to which there are no easy solutions, but it's not a situation any of us can ignore. I look forward to hearing more about what is being done and will post an update while I'm in Budapest if I can. 

Posted at 10:55 11 September 2008 by Jim Murphy  |  Comments[3]