Two Countries Working Closely Together

Denmark and Hungary are working closely together. That is what the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark to Hungary, Erik Vilstrup Lorenzen emphasizes in an extensive interview with Diplomacy&Trade, the leading article of the recent Danish Focus.

Ambassador Lorenzen arrived to Hungary over a year ago. Concerning his plans and how much he has been able to realize under these difficult circumstances, he tells Diplomacy&Trade that “I was very pleased to come to Hungary, partly because of my background. My strong side is working on European issues. I have worked in Copenhagen with the European Union, including, for instance, on the EU enlargement at the time when Hungary became a member country – a process, which culminated in the new member states signing the enlargement document in 2004 in Copenhagen. I have been posted in Brussels, in London and in Rome and in Canada. For me, it is a big privilege to represent my country in Hungary.

Public diplomacy
He adds that there's another task, which is very important here and that is public diplomacy “where we talk about our values – we do that together with the Nordics. We have a lot of cultural events. Of course, there's been some restrictions on that during the coronavirus epidemic. But we managed to hold the Nordic Night with cultural events around Budapest. Next year, we will try to hold one on the Danish diplomat of tragic fate, Povl Bang-Jensen with experts also coming from Copenhagen. So, there's a lot of cultural ties with a lot of Hungarians going to Denmark, and a lot of Danes coming here. I was very pleased to see how vivid and alive culture here is. I'm impressed by that. Also, therefore there is big cultural exchange.”
When it comes to cultural and public diplomacy, the Embassy started together with the Nordics what they call Nordic Bridge. It is a series of events run and hosted by the Nordic Embassies in Budapest covering a spectrum of topics selected and shaped in collaboration with the members of the local community, that of about 40 young Hungarian professionals, prospective leaders from different walks of life, representing business, culture, sport, science and education, civil society and media. Nordic Bridge is about openness and trust and it aims at providing information, sharing ideas and best practices from Hungary and the Nordic countries, mixing valuable expertise and experience through dialog and exchange, and contributing to an informed debate on Nordic strengths, achievements and values, Ambassador Lorenzen explains.

Trade relations
The third angle is the trade side, he says. The volume of bilateral trade is over EUR one billion per year. There are about 70 Danish companies here (employing over 15,000 people in Hungary) with a significant amount of investment. After the earlier years dominated by manufacturing investments, recently it is R&D and technology investments that have been added and new functions have emerged (back-office functions and logistics centers at regional level). “Some of these companies are newcomers while others have been here for a while like Grundfos that celebrates 25 years in this country or Velux that has been here for 35 years. The latter is going to open a regional center in Budapest soon. This November saw a huge investment by Soft Flow, which was acquired five years ago by the Danish company FOSS, and we have others are also expanding. We work quite closely with the companies regarding the new coronavirus epidemic, for instance: how the closure affects them, if you have a lockdown on schools and parents have to stay at home, etc.”
There is a greater and greater presence of Danish companies here in Hungary, but there is always room for improvement. “I think that some of the areas that will become important in the coming years is the green issues, the climate agenda, and we need to have companies that can find solutions for us. So, I think our stronghold will mean that the cooperation will get even stronger because the green agenda will further grow in importance. There, I definitely see potential for working even closer together. Then, another one with growth potential is the health sector, both in Denmark and Hungary. There are more and more elderly people, so, there is potential there. And then, of course, also in digitalization and technology”

Handball and business
The Ambassador also highlights an upcoming event in a sport that is “something we share very much with Hungary: handball. We are the reigning world champions and the winner of the 2016 Olympic title in men’s handball but we are not European champions. However, we have the chance to win that missing continental title at the European championship that happens to be held in Hungary (and Slovakia) in January next year.”
The reason the Ambassador mentioned that is because “the sponsors of the Danish national team will come here, 10-12 companies, and we are working on a program for them, to tell them about the possibilities for investment in Hungary. With the COVID-19 situation, many companies consider shortening the supply chain: manufacturing closer to home as opposed to the difficulties of logistics from China. So, the interest of being in Europe is growing for companies” Of course, sustainability resulting from shorter supply chains is also a very important consideration. But there are also other reasons. For instance, FOSS is expanding in Pécs because of the university there. The decisive factor is not the cost but knowledge, that is the brain power that is at the University in Pécs, he points out.

Things in common
The Ambassador notes that Hungarian filmmakers received the ‘Oscar’ in the best foreign movie category twice (‘Mephisto’ by István Szabó and ‘Son of Saul’ by László Nemes), Danes are now very proud of Thomas Vinterberg's 'Another Round,' which took home the 2021 Academy Award for best international film. “This summer, it was shown close to Lake Balaton, with a lecture presented after the film. It was a pop-up event, which we were very pleased to engage in, people bringing their own chairs, local producers bringing cheese and wine, it was a wonderful event.”
He stresses that even though Hungary is twice as big as Denmark, it is still a smaller country. “So, there are several things we have in common. That being said, we, of course, have our differences for instance when it comes to the EU-debate on rule of law.” Concerning the discussion of differences with the Hungarian government, the Ambassador is of the view that “nobody's shying away from dialog. When we ask for meetings with Hungarian representatives from the administration, there is always access. There's no beating around the bush, we have an open and frank dialog and that's much appreciated.”

Centennial anniversary
Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Ambassador Lorenzen highlights the close cooperation in EU, NATO and other multilateral organizations, while on bilateral level, “it is the people-to-people connections, the relationship that have grown stronger. So, I think it's two countries that are moving closer.” The 1956 Hungarian uprising was a very remarkable event with also great interest in Denmark. In relation to that, he calls attention to the fact that Povl Bang-Jensen is an important personality in the history of both Denmark and Hungary. He was a Danish diplomat who refused to hand over to his UN superiors a list of 81 Hungarian witnesses to the 1956 uprising, shielding their identities that he feared would be leaked to the Soviet Union, and reprisals could possibly be taken against their relatives of these witnesses in Hungary. He died from a gunshot under suspicious circumstances in New York City in November 1959.

International cooperation
The Ambassador believes both Denmark and Hungary are very interested in the importance of European cooperation “And on the whole security side, both we and Hungary are very strong NATO supporters, which is the most important security organization for both countries.”
Regarding missions where Danish and Hungarian soldiers were together, he mentions Estonia where the Hungarian Air Force was helping in protecting the airspace of the Baltic countries. “We worked together there as well as earlier – although to a lesser extent – in Afghanistan where we had a quite strong presence. So much so that in Afghanistan, the casualties among Danish soldiers were higher – compared to the size of the population – than those of the United States.” The latest venue of cooperation where international presence is important is Mali where Hungarians are just about to join the peace corps.

Engaging the citizens
The presence of civil societies is very much appreciated in Denmark and the other Nordic countries that support the activities of such groups in other countries, including Hungary. “I think for us, the whole involvement of civil societies is important. I will soon take part at a seminar about deliberative democracy, that is, how to involve citizens. A good example of that from Denmark is, for instance, is that if at least 50,000 people sign a petition, our parliament is obliged to discuss that issue. On the local level civil groups have the possibility to put issues on the agenda and further engage citizens in the decision making, they can come to committees for hearings over a longer time, engaging in debates. It is important also for us I to reach out to the civil society, the Ambassador points out.

Cultural role
Returning to the issue of cultural relations, he is of the view that there has long been an interest on both sides to have close cultural ties. “We had that big Nordic Night event, programs on sustainability as well as summer camps here together with the Scandinavian House. I believe we can be proud of the high participation rate you can see when we have cultural events. So, I think there is a potential there to continue organizing such programs as they are very important both on the diplomatic side and on the cultural side. Right now, we are looking into what can we do, which events can we have next year. Yes, we do the politics, yes, we do the export promotion and dialog with companies, but then, the cultural side is also very important,” Ambassador Erik Vilstrup Lorenzen concludes.