A bit off topic: isn't it strange that many people _choose_ to live on countries like Hungary, that media portrays as being the gross ones in the EU context? Something doesn't seem right here.
I semi-retired early, and I currently live in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. I saw a (uploaded 5 years ago) Youtube video that mentioned the city as a place rife with corruption and poverty and people somehow scrape by. I showed the girlfriend, who grew up here, and we were both confused.
On the other hand, I don't know why people _choose_ to live in a country with high property taxes and healthcare costs and mandatory driving. As an American I love the US but feel relaxed where I am now.
A friend once asked me why I didn't move to London instead. Because I grew up near NYC and it's like the same thing, that's why.
How did you get residency? Another guy from AZ (?) was denied entry into Romania after overstaying his visa and then he moved to Moldova and now the unrecognuzed PMR, aka Transnistria after trying other EU countries. He wrote a book about the country and runs this eccentric but also sometimes funny blog:
I'm not 100% sure where you are going with "gross ones in the EU context" but I'll try to answer you.
Hungary economy has been developing rapidly in the past decade. Real estate has been booming by refurbishing old buildings still damaged from the WW2 and the communist occupation. Hungary has a lot of skilled engineer given its size. Hungarian salaries are growing fast but are still lower than many other EU countries.
Hungary has very low taxation (9% corporate tax, 15% income tax).
So from an financial point of view is quite conveniente to live in Budapest, there are plenty of new parks, children playgrounds and restaurants and they are all quite affordable if your income comes from out of Hungary.
So this is the reason why someone does it.
Viktor Orbán is the prime minister of Hungary since 2010.
Orban has been more and more anti EU in recent years.
I'm a strong supporter of the EU and sincerely all this anti-EU propoganda upsets me and frightens me very much.
We were planning to buy a house in Budapest and stay longer but frankly after hearing more and more anti-EU sentiment from the Hungarian government we'll likely stay a couple more years until our child finishes the daycare and then move somewhere else (we do move quite often anyway).
Please next time refrain from using an adjective like "gross" while speaking about a country since there is plenty of human beings coming from there and "gross" sounds more like a mean comment than a constructive criticism.
My comment was a satire on mainstream media. I’ve lived in East Europe also and the quality of life is easily better comparing with the West. Media by the other end has a different agenda and seems to ignore it.
I have to say I was a huge supporter of Hungary given my new appreciation of the libertarian movement and low taxation.
This said though I (purposefully) do not read newspapers.
Given the coronavirus epidemic I had to read a lot of Hungarian news and I really did not like what I red in the past months.
Before I was totally unaware of Victor Orban new extremism in anti-EU, reduced freedom of speech in the news and turning the other way to ignore new rising neo-nazi and anti-semitism in Hungary.
I agree with the pro-business agenda of Victor Orban but I strongly disagree with his new totalitarian methods.
Did you express you experiences in a blog post or something? I'd be curious about living in Hungary. Visited Budapest last year - seemed to be a great city!
