Last year, the National Youth Council of Hungary launched a book series under the title “Our unknown acquaintances - Young people” to mark the European Year of Youth. The first volume, “Kívánj tizet - The generational self-reflection and vision of the future of young people in Hungary”, edited by Péter Pillók, Head of the Social Science Research Group of the Századvég Foundation and Levente Székely, Director of the Youth Research Institute, was published in 2022.
The second publication in the series, the English-language volume of studies “Hard times create strong youth - The Impact of the Era of Crisis on Future Generations”, also edited by Péter Pillók and Levente Székely, aims to discuss and present the situation and problems faced by young people in Hungary and Central Europe in an international, European and global context. At the launch of the book, which took place on 16 October at the Council of Europe’s Európa Pont community outreach centre in Budapest, the authors and editors were joined by relevant stakeholders and decision-makers from youth policy in Hungary and Europe to reflect on the key messages of the studies.
At the launch of the book, welcome addresses were delivered by Péter Pillók, editor of the book, and Péter Kovács, president of the National Youth Council of Hungary. These were followed by a presentation by Bence Balogh, macroeconomic analyst of the Századvég Economic Research Centre, entitled “The economic crisis and youth housing” which also discussed the European context of the topic. This was followed by a presentation by Levente Székely entitled “Youth in an age of unpredictability”, on the uncertainties and generational frustrations facing young people. The book launch was closed with a round table discussion with Zsófia Nagy-Vargha, Deputy State Secretary for Youth, Bálint Molnár, Director of the European Youth Centre Budapest and Richárd Bodrogi, Director General of the Tempus Public Foundation, moderated by Péter Kovács.
The volume includes several contributions by researchers from Mathias Corvinus Collegium: Viktor Marsai, Omar Sayfo, Meszár Tárik and Klaudia Tóth from the Migration Research Institute on migration trends among young people in Africa and the Middle East, Orsolya Kovács-Magosi, researcher at the Climate Policy Institute and guest researcher Philip Hammond on youth representatives of the climate discourse, while Levente Székely and guest researcher Dimitry Rudenkin wrote a study on youth on the threshold of the era of singularity.
