The EU Comes Alive with Guest Speaker Andras Baneth

The member state flags of the European Union.

            Today the JSBPer’s headed back to the old building of Corvinus after a wonderful Hiatus break for our last guest speaker of the semester, a man named Andras Baneth. Andras is an author and lecturer on the European Union, specifically working with online communications and international affairs within the EU Commission. He currently lives in Brussels and works as a senior executive partner for strategy and online marketing at Arboreus Online Training Services. Here is a link to a useful website which provides more information about Mr. Baneth, http://be.linkedin.com/pub/andras-baneth/3/5a0/607. 

A picture of Mr. Baneth

            I personally loved Mr. Baneth, mostly because of how knowledgeable, engaged, relaxed, and funny he was throughout his presentation. Even though the internet was not working, Mr. Baneth quickly changed his game plan and provided us with a very detailed, yet brief description of the EU, it’s creation, goals, and everything else in between. He provided our group with many metaphors, which I thought was extremely helpful to paint pictures for us. For example, he described his Ipad as a way to think of trade policies within the EU. His Ipad had to come from somewhere else (potentially China) and this import of goods must have regulations and rules. He also discussed how a goal of the EU is to make countries interdependent with trade and tourism because then they are less likely to fight with each other. More importantly, Mr. Baneth made it clear that a large problem within the EU is that in the past 5 to 10 years one must wonder how far the coordination between the 27 member states can go? It was interesting to think about how the EU really operates and how difficult it must be to have the 27 member states with their own languages, own cultures, own ideas, own national interests, own foreign policies and everything else in between, get along and try to work together under a similar roof. Mr. Baneth was continually reiterating that the EU is not a federal government that is of course, completely opposite of our government within the United States. It is interesting to think which is the better option for the population? There will always be positives of the United States federal government, especially because President Obama makes the ultimate decisions, but there will also inevitably always be negatives. This is the same within the EU. Mr. Baneth was pointing out to us, that crises are not always solved quickly and efficiently because there is no one who is the ultimate leader. This to me is a major downfall of the EU. Overall, the presentation was wonderful and I learned many new things about the EU that I hadn’t known prior to meeting Mr. Baneth.

This recent music video is a catchy tune discussing what is going on right now with the Euro Crisis. Even though a tad ridiculous, thought it was worth showing since most of the things we discussed were gloomy. This will provide good information with a little chuckle.

            Continuing, I believe that the best part of the presentation was how relevant it was for us as student’s living in Europe with the current economic crisis of the Euro and specifically the problems within Greece. I am traveling to Greece on Friday for the weekend and I know that Nellie and Grace just returned from a week trip there, so it is really important, interesting, and terrifying to hear more about what is happening with Greece and the other member states within the EU. I was nervous when Mr. Baneth was explaining that he believes Greece will be completely bankrupt within the next couple of weeks. What will this do to the Euro, the EU, and Greece itself? It will be devastating and a major global issue. The only way to solve the problem is for Greece to finally play by the rules, agree to what’s happening and allow Germany to help them. I was extremely surprised that Greece lied about their statistics in order to enter the Eurozone. Why did they do this? Why would a country want to be on the Euro so badly that they would lie about their actual numbers and financial situation? If the corruption of this government was non-existent then this problem would most likely not be occurring. Mr. Baneth continually discussed how the biggest issue here is that this is a psychological problem. Specifically, the EU member states must be thinking of the psychological effects of letting one state fail. If and when Greece fails, major changes and decisions will need to be made. He is very skeptical of the future of the EU and said, “tension is growing and the ship is sinking”. This was an extremely gloomy part of the presentation but I enjoyed Mr. Baneth’s honesty and his ability to share his opinions with us. He also discussed that in the age of globalization, disintegration between the EU member states makes no sense, BUT politics almost never make sense, therefore he is very unaware of the future of the member states and the EU.

            A final part of the presentation worth mentioning is Mr. Baneth’s comparison of some unemployment benefits of EU member states compared to an average Hungarian salary. The numbers he provided were ridiculous! Some people can work for one year and after they are laid off, or whatever the reason may be for their unemployment, they are eligible for about 1,100 Euros per year. Compared to many of the Hungarians I have met, that is an obscene amount, sky rocketing above the average Hungarian salary. This is not only depressing, but eye opening. Hopefully this can change and some of the EU member states, specifically Greece can get their act together.

            Overall, a really great end to our guest speakers of the JSBP field studies class. Mr. Baneth was a wonderful presenter and I thoroughly enjoyed his stories, metaphors, honesty, and presence.

This is the book Andras has writeen - extremely impressive.

The video above is very interesting and informative of the last 50 years of the EU. I think that the end with all of the Euro's being shown and people happy and smiling everywhere is clearly not a great picture of what's happening right now, but it's still very interesting.