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 Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers  Mass celebrations in Budapest as Hungary joins EU Fri Apr 30 2004 19:47:25 ET Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians celebrated their former communist country's entry into the European Union with midnight parties in the streets of Budapest as the EU welcomed 10 new states on Saturday. Fireworks lit up the sky above Heroes' Square in the Hungarian capital as the national anthem was played, followed by Beethoven's Ode to Joy, which is the EU's anthem. "Hungary has returned to Europe and the values which Hungary has held dear for more than 1,000 years," Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy said as a gigantic eight-meter (25-foot) hourglass was turned over to begin marking the nation's time in the EU. Hungarians had kicked off celebrations with the tolling of a flower-shaped bell at noon Friday and then took to the streets for evening parties. "We are finally triumphing over our misfortunes," Medgyessy said at the bell ceremony. "Our integration (into the EU) can be a historic turning point." "We were the gates of Europe already but now we will be that from the inside," he said. By early evening tens of thousands crammed Heroes' Square to enjoy music from around the world including singing by 250 orphans from the 10 new EU states -- Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Nine year-old Anna Borsanyi, however, was more concerned with dipping her hand in yellow paint and adding her handprint on the side of a blue truck parked on the square. Blue and yellow are the colors of the EU flag. "I think the handprints symbolize that we are joining the European Union," Anna said. The truck arrived at the Austrian border at midnight and was the first Hungarian freight to pass to a western EU state without having to clear customs. A few steps away from Anna, Maria Rozsa, with a few dozen colourful balloons clutched in her hand, was making brisk business. She said the only colours anyone was buying today were the EU's yellow and blue. "Everyone wants balloons with the European Union stars on them," she said. Not everything was music and games, however, as some reflected on the past before joining the EU. An exhibition of hundreds of objects that Budapest residents say they will not take with them into the new EU era opened Friday at a downtown bus station. "I brought two Soviet-era TV sets because I had enough of them and to leave these here is a relief for me and symbolizes freedom," Laszlo Csorba, an artist who came to the bus station with his 12-year old son Adam, had told AFP earlier this week as he handed in his objects to the exhibition. Later Saturday Hungarians will enjoy day-long festivities on the banks of the river Danube. One of the bridges connecting the Buda and Pest sides of the capital, Elizabeth bridge, was to have water cascading down from both sides creating a waterfall on the Danube. An air show was also planned over the river with the celebrations culminating in all-night parties throughout the city. |
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