At the end of the Chevening Programme

I spent a memorable 3 months as Chevening Fellow in Brigthon at University of Sussex and it is my pleasure to share events and experience of the European Political Economy programme. The programme is funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), British Council and organised by the Sussex European Institute (SEI).

All members of the Chevening group (11) were very nice and we spent most of our time together. Apart from the brilliant social life in the group we had a very rich professional agenda. The list of the meetings and professional programmes we have done is impressive. We had the chance to visit the House of Lords, where a comprehensive presentation was given on the organisation and the work of the House. We visited the office of the City of London and many distinguished think-tanks, such as Chatham House, National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), the Centre of Economic Reform (CER), where we talked about the economic prospect of the world, the EU and the UK. The discussions with the chief economists of these institutions were very vigorous and it was an excellent opportunity to talk and ask questions directly to them.

The flagship of the programme was the 2-day conference for the European Political Economy (EPE) Chevening Alumni. The topic of the conference was dedicated to the current economic crisis, and recent developments as possible ways out of the crisis. An additional objective of the conference was to build up professional networks, given that almost all former and current participants of the EPE Chevening programme work on similar fields. The programme included presentations by the current and alumni fellows and representatives of the British government (Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs), as well as lecturers of other universities, which I found really useful having in mind comprehensiveness and the scope of the presentations. Based on my experience, such networks are very useful in exchanging good practice and information and they can be further developed in future.

The programme also included two visits outside England. First, we spent some days in Scotland, where we had the possibility to get acquainted with the Scottish economy and culture. We visited the Scottish government, the famous University in Edinburgh which is the first place for European studies in Great Britain, and the office of the European Commission in Edinburgh. We gained useful experience by visiting think-tanks and other European Institutions in Brussels, like DG ECFIN, DG Enlargement, DG Regio, Permanent Representation of the UK, ECIPE, Bruegel institute, CEPS. The agenda of the Brussels trip was very diverse. We learned a lot about the current macroeconomic developments, the financial crisis, as well as about the enlargement prospects of the EU and its regional policy.

After coming back to my busy work in the Ministry of Finance I will always remember my nice time in Brighton, the friends I made, the very helpful teachers, the exciting social life and interesting cultural programmes. Finally I have to admit that my knowledge and overview has extended enormously thanks to the fruitful programme, the agenda and the people I met.

Background information

Márton Szili was our Chevening Fellow, who attended the European Political Economy course at the University of Sussex in Brighton.

Marton has been working in the Economic Policy Department of the Hungarian Ministry of Finance for more than five years. His is mainly responsible for the interpretation and implementation of EU legislation, moreover he is working on projects concerning the introduction of the euro in Hungary.

This opportunity cleary offered Marton new experiences that can easily be used in his further work in Hungarian administration.