Két Magyar Lobbi tag levele jelent meg a New York Timesban, válaszul a “Down the Danube” sorozat “East on the Danube: Hungary’s Tragic Century” (2003. augusztus 9.) című cikkére. Részlet a Magyar Lobbi 2003. augusztus 15-i akció körleveléből.

Hungary, Then and Now

To the Editor:

Re “East on the Danube: Hungary’s Tragic Century” (news article, “Down the Danube” series, Aug. 9):

While your sources say Hungarians view joining the European Union as a shot at getting back their “Great History,” as they call it, you might have found a less optimistic picture if you had spoken to the working class.

Many fear that the few available jobs will be snapped up by foreigners willing to tolerate smaller salaries and that their special culture will wither like the rest of the country’s past glories.

Living in Budapest for the last 10 months, I saw the sadness and bitterness that the last century has imbued in its people old and young. The Treaty of Trianon created a nation of widows, mourning their lost empire even today.

European Union membership could help Hungary, but only if the country overcomes its obsession with its mired past.

Lizzy Bennett
New York, Aug. 10, 2003

Danube Diversion and the Gabčíkovo Dam

To the Editor:

You are right that the rerouting of the Danube into a concrete-sealed canal “has been sharply criticized by environmentalists in Hungary and elsewhere” (news article, “Down the Danube” series, Aug. 9).

In fact, we are suing the Hungarian government, demanding that it return the case to the International Court in The Hague to save the unique species of the Szigetköz wetlands.

You are also correct in saying “the question of the dam is not entirely over,” because a revolutionary new design called the compromise plan has been prepared that would allow the Gabčíkovo hydroelectric plant to continue its operation while the natural riverbed is reopened.

Béla Lipták
Stamford, Conn., Aug. 9, 2003
The writer is president, Foundation to Protect the Hungarian Environment.

Forrás: A Magyar Lobbi Akció Körlevele, 2003. augusztus 15.