Hatos said the year 2011, during the first half of which Hungary held the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, had yielded a serious experience. ?We learnt from it and others learnt from us. Events organised by Hungarian cultural institutes were greatly appreciated, just like the methods we used in managing cultural events connected to the Hungarian presidency,? he added.
Hungarian cultural diplomacy was borne out of a trauma that the country endured after World War I when Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory, he said. ?Traumas cannot be resolved but it?s possible to face up to them,? he added.
The language of Europe is that of continuous compromise and therefore it is crucially important to understand each other in Visegrád Four cooperation, Hatos said. The most important task in cultural management is to establish equal opportunities in culture because culture will never survive on state support, he added.
The other participants of the forum, entitled Cultural Diplomacy in Central Europe, organised jointly by the Hungarian Institute in Bratislava, the Czech Centre and the Polish Institute, also discussed the role of cultural diplomacy and assessed its performance in recent years.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: MTI
