Daniel Kaddik, executive director of ELF opened up the discussion, the moderator of the conference was Dániel Mikecz from Republikon Institute. The panelists were Andrea Virág, Director of Strategy at Republikon Institute, Carmen Descamps, researcher and Marco Mariani, European Affairs Director at Fondazione Luigi Einaudi and also the member of ELF Board.
Andrea Virág mentioned that the freedom of movement seems to be the most valuable advantage of the European Union for Hungarian people, probably due to the socialist past. She said that besides the plenty of positive effects, we also have to see the negative consequences. Such as brain drain, which can cause many problems in, for instance, Eastern European countries. During the pandemic, two-thirds of the Hungarian respondents said that closing the borders were necessary, research has shown that - under normal circumstances - they really appreciate the freedom of movement.
Carmen Descamps talked about how there are so many possibilities, which we don't even notice anymore, but they can only exist because of the freedom of movement. She said that the freedom of movement means much more than economic rights, it has political and cultural aspects as well; it’s about connecting people. Regarding the topic of Brexit, she talked about that when it comes to citizens’ rights, we still don’t know hardly anything.
Marco Mariani talked about that although in the last couple of years, there have been voices that see the movement of freedom as a threat, there is still a general consensus about it and that it’s crucial for personal liberty. He mentioned that Italy is also affected in the problem of brain drain, but the restriction of free movement is not the solution. Instead of controlling migration, politicians should prepare conditions for competing.
You can re-watch our conference, here:
This event was organised by Republikon and the European Liberal Forum with the financial support of the European Parliament.
Neither the European Parliament nor the European Liberal Forum are responsible for the content, or for any use that may be made of it.