Thousands interested in the Open Day of EU Developments27 March 2013
On the occasion of the European Year of Citizens the National Development Agency started its programme entitled “Open Day of EU Developments - A walk behind the scenes” in order to show how much the European Union membership contributes to the improvement of the living conditions of the citizens. The event received great attention in the entire country and thousands were interested in the programmes.
Hungary’s development has been defined by EU funded investments for long years, but residents can almost solely receive information about the developments from the news. For this reason with the intention of creating a tradition the National Development Agency announced a national open day for 2nd March, Saturday when the most fascinating developments are introduced.
“Our objective was to show the residents that the New Széchenyi Plan and the related EU funds are not merely abstract concepts, but they result in developments that impact everyone’s life. The European year of Citizens offers an excellent opportunity for the local communities to gain insight into how much the EU membership contributes to improving their living conditions. Due to the great success of the event it is among the plans of the institutional system to provide an opportunity to visit similar investments every year in the future. We hope that the EU Open Day today will create a tradition” – Nándor Csepreghy, Deputy Secretary of State responsible for Development Programmes of the Ministry of National Development, explained.
In the framework of the programme all over the country visitors could see 30 investments that are otherwise closed to the public or can only be viewed by purchasing a ticket. The investments that can be visited on the Open Day include cultural, tourism, scientific or infrastructural developments. For instance the Tétényi Road station of Metro 4, the planned reconstruction of the Royal Garden Pavilion, the interactive exhibition of the Hungarian Natural History Museum and one of the renovated buildings of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music could be visited.
There were also several programmes away from the capital. Among others, the Korda Filmpark Visitors Centre in Etyek, the Vásárhelyi-Bréda Castle in Lőkösháza, the Esterházy Castle in Fertőd, the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter in Pécs and the Kodály Centre were also free to visit. Nature lovers could spend quality time visiting the Lake Tisza Eco Centre, the fossil remains of Ipolytarnóc, the Puszta Safari of Hortobágy or the Botanical Garden of the University of Szeged.
At the same time on the Open Day visitors could also look into the lives of enterprises as they could see how energy drinks are made in the factory of HELL Energy where due to the EU funding received, with the use of modern, advanced and eco-friendly materials and technologies a new building has been constructed, which is suitable for the installation of state-of-the-art technological apparatus. In addition, visitors could also see environmentally-conscious developments such as the biomass heating plant located in the territory of the Pannonhalma Archabbey using renewable energy sources to provide heating for the Abbey, or the ultrasound PET waste recycling technology of Adu Develop Ltd. in Székesfehérvár.
About the European Year of Citizens
The European Year of Citizens (2013) calls attention to the rights to which every citizen living in the European Union is automatically entitled to deriving from the EU citizenship status. Every day all 500 million EU citizens - and through them the entire European economy - benefit from these rights.
More information: http://europa.eu/citizens-2013/hu/home