Cirrus@Austlit

'I first came to Hungary thirty years ago as a young Australian diplomat. witnessing its democratic transition and conversion to a market economy after long decades in the Soviet bloc. Back in 1990 there was a tiny Australian Embassy — since closed as a cost-cutting measure — with a handful of local staff in a grand but dilapidated old house facing Heroes' Square in Budapest. Post-1989 was a time of great optimism in the West, with hopes high that the former Soviet satellites would come 'home' to Europe, adopt its highly developed social values and join its unified trading bloc, the precursor of the European Union. I doubted this would be a smooth transition. Yet Hungary's skilled and entrepreneurial population attracted foreign investment, with Hungarians seemingly more interested in making money than in settling ancient scores. Breathtakingly beautiful Budapest attracted tourists whose cash funded an explosion of new eateries and bars. A raft of new political parties, emerged, including a bunch of bright youngsters led by the charismatic Viktor Orban.' (Introduction)