Just because Hungary now presides over the European Union (EU), does that mean that it has to pretend to care about a common European future? Who cares if, to mark the beginning of its EU presidency, it installed a giant carpet in Brussels that features a map of “Greater Hungary” – before it lost 2/3rds of its land in the Treaty of Trianon, in 1920?
What’s the problem with a little nationalistic aspiration? Is it so wrong to create new symbols, ostensibly aspiring to past greatness? So what if Romania and Slovakia would have to give back some land? They’d be okay with that, right?
Sheesh. People are so sensitive these days.
Hungary in EU Presidency ‘History’ Carpet Row on BBC News, January 14, 2011
OR, check out a much more detailed analysis from the fabulous Hungarian Spectrum blog: The Hungarian carpet scandal in Brussels: Bad luck or something else?
The carpet is installed in the headquarters of the European Council
Hungarian Watch 