I spent most of last week in Budapest� a good autumn getaway in any case, but work-related because I was invited by fellow OfcomWatcher Dr. Monica Arino to give a lecture to students in the master�s in public policy course at the Central European University (CEU). Here are my reflections / thoughts on the trip:

* Being with, and listening to, very bright students from countries such as Georgia and Romania and Bulgaria adds an interesting perspective on the debates we often have here in the U.K. on things like public service broadcasting or media and communications regulation. The BBC and Ofcom are models, certainly, and �high achievers� in their respective fields� but in many ways it would not be good to try to simply copy their structures and remits in some of these countries in Central and Eastern Europe. It reminded me of the �institutional endowments� approach by Levy & Spiller: We cannot just examine regulatory policies; we also need to make sure that regulatory systems match the particular nation�s governance characteristics and competencies. It also means that maintaining an EU-wide media policy is problematical to say the least.

* I met with the people who run some exciting new media and communications policy / research / consultancy centers in Hungary. Nanne Priebs, Viktor Bohm and Istvan Teszler of the CEU�s Center for Media and Communications Studies (CMCS). Expect to see much more from CMCS on media and communications policy issues. Already, CMCS is the lead coordinator of a massive European study on media policy. I also met Monica�s CEU colleague Dr. Szabolcs Koppanyi who manages the Infocommunications Law Centre. The Centre is hosting a conference on December 1-2. Click here for details.

* Monica and I, on behalf of OfcomWatch, gate-crashed a meeting of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) (well, we entered the lobby of the posh hotel where the meeting was) and met with its newly-elected president, Joan Botella. EPRA (composed of 48 European broadcasting regulators) just happened to be holding its meeting the same time I was in Budapest. Joan was more than happy to meet with us, and over a few drinks, gave us a great overview of what EPRA is up to. Monica will post more about our meeting with Joan Botella soon.

* The title of this post is purposefully misleading. Budapest, at least from my perspective, is not at the edge of the EU at all, at least with respect to media and communications policy. Fellow OfcomWatcher Roger Darlington was recently in Hungary for an important conference on media and children. And, just a week before my visit, Budapest hosted the re:activism conference, organised by Bodo Balazs, who was kind enough to share coffee with Monica and me. But later this week, I will go to Brussels, the self-appointed �heart� of the EU, to participate in the Telecoms Regulation and Competition Law conference. I�ll post a report about Brussels as well. I wonder if I could pop-in on Viviane Reding and ask her how the TVWF revision is going? More on that later…