At the 1st Country Image Conference held at the Budapest Corvinus University on Thursday, Zoltán Kovács, Minister of State for Government Communication at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice delivered a lecture in which he said the development of the country’s image is an integral process which is the totality of the actions, thoughts and attitudes of every Hungarian citizen. The image others may have of Hungary also has an external element; that which foreigners think about us, and this must be thoroughly assessed with meticulous work.

Objective assessment, free from emotions, is essential; we must know what people in Western Europe and around the world think about us, and must, at the same time, redefine what we think about ourselves, he said.

In his opinion, the “Hungarian identity” is currently being redefined; the past two years have guided this process of re-definition in a healthy and appropriate direction. At the same time, we must heed the fact that, for instance, the Finns pay attention to this on an ongoing basis. He underlined, self-evaluation that is key to identity must be taken care of continuously as this is the only way “to have a healthy image of ourselves and to define correctly who we actually are and what we want from ourselves”.

He pointed out, the country’s image fundamentally rests on stereotypes; positive impressions and negative prejudices. We must be aware of the nature of these as they have existed for decades or even centuries, and some of the opinions that rest on these cannot be changed.

In demonstration of these stereotypes, the Minister of State cited the image formed of Central Europe, on the basis of which it is a region “struggling with a deficit of democracy”. This is a “deep-rooted conviction” that is, as we can see only too clearly, being used conveniently in the Transatlantic region and in Western Europe under the present circumstances. “We must guide people’s attention to the details that prove there is no room for double standards. We must refuse being measured and judged in such a system of stereotypes”, the Minister of State said.

According to the Minister of State, every Hungarian citizen is responsible for the development of the country’s image; all of us, from the inhabitants of a small locality all the way to the President of the Republic, form the image that others have of our country.

(kormany.hu)