Connecting Interested Parties for Dialogue

The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), the oldest political foundation in Germany, has been represented in Budapest since 1990. Its goal in Hungary is to promote political dialogue between Hungary and Germany as well as member states, the exchange of analysis, views and concepts.

As the leadership of the Foundation tells Diplomacy&Trade, when the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung opened offices in Budapest over 30 years ago, it was during a period of great excitement and change. Everybody knew, that the fall of the Iron Curtain would change the world as it had been known since the Second World War, but nobody could be certain what exactly the future would bring. Also, the constellations of relevant actors in politics and society were in a flux, including international networks and orientations.
During that period, FES tried to add value to the general atmosphere of change primarily by doing both networking with new relevant actors emerging in the political sphere and in civil society with counterparts in Germany and Europe, and connecting interested parties and trade unions with debates on social democratic values, traditions and programs.
The repeated and strong feedback from Hungarians shows that these contributions by FES have helped paving the way for Hungary’s excellent development, the good and friendly relations between Germany and Hungary and, not the least, the very successful integration into the European Union alike.

Activities
As for the day-to-day activities of the Foundation, FES is trying to stay in permanent contact and constructive debate with a variety of progressive persons and organizations in Hungary. In its conferences, workshops, FES-supported studies and surveys, the main intention is to link Hungarian analysis and debate to European and German discussions. Being the oldest political foundation in Germany and strongly anchored in both the trade union movement as well as in the Social Democratic Parties’ family, FES says it will always try to work out the particular progressive and labor-friendly views and concepts. In this, issues of social justice, imbalances between genders and European values are always key reference points throughout all their activities.
Thus, the programs include exchanges between Hungarian, European and German politicians, trade unionists and civil society actors. The analysis of current developments on either side of this dialogue are key in this, as the Stiftung wishes all discussions to be based on facts and research. They find it important that the details are very transparently available on their website in Hungarian, English and German.
When asked how much has the Friedrich Ebert Foundation contributed to the good relations between Germany and Hungary, the organizations leadership uses the word ‘tremendously’ – based on the feedback they receive. They add, though, that the final judgement should rather rest with those they intended to assist and connect through their work. Another indicator is the (sometimes great) amount of requests received from both Hungary and Germany or European member states to help better interpret current affairs and developments on the respective other side. During the year 2020 and in the context of the pandemic, they had to move their programs online – and were surprised very positively about the ever-increasing numbers of interested participants from Hungary and abroad.