Freedom of movement

April 4th, 2024

Today, for most of my work day, I was in an online training session through the Teams. The subject was interesting, and I had peace and quiet in the office for a change. But that is not important. During that training session, I noticed something that might be taken for granted by many, and by me as well — but in reality, something that is truly astounding.

I work for a company nominally based in Budapest, with offices and factories all over Europe. And in that training session, there was a good mixture of people from different branches. And as we talked, we also were telling each other about ourselves and our backgrounds. So here is what I remember —

The presenter was from Slovakia, now living and working remotely in Denmark. Another person was from Sweden, but living in Budapest and working on a Benelux sales account. Another was from a village in Poland, doing data analysis for the Utrecht branch. Another was from Italy, who was educated and lived for years in London (until Brexit) and kept a wonderful Received Pronunciation. Another was a Hungarian living and working for a Nordic team in Sweden. Another was born in Colombia, educated in Germany and now living and working in Brussels. Another was from Finland, who had just joined a French team while living in the Netherlands. Of course, we all communicated in English.

That is normal all over Europe, and especially within the European Union. It is a wonderful thing, unimaginable thirty years ago. I know there are people — simple, limited, and parochial people — for whom that might seem wrong and are hell-bent on changing it. For me — I hope that lasts forever and I will use the opportunities of this wonderful idea of an international community brings to the fullest.