Hungary needs friend like former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, politicians who can be friends of Hungary and Europe at the same time, Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog said on Tuesday at a Budapest conference organized on the occasion of Helmut Kohl’s 85th birthday.
At the conference jointly organized by the 20th Century Institute and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Mr. Balog said the best way to characterize Kohl is through the words of Angela Merkel: “he first built trust and then took action”. He added that while parts of Western Europe – London, Paris, Rome and even Moscow – had reservations about German reunification, Kohl was able to defeat this resistance.
Mr. Balog said that Hungarians should perhaps follow his path and attempt to build trust before acting. He said Kohl recognized the opportune moment when it came, exemplifying that individuals can indeed have an effect on the turn of history.
German reunification has special importance for Hungarians, because it made the dismantling of the Communist regime possible – “a split Germany guaranteed the survival of the Communist regime”. Mr. Balog pointed out that the Berlin wall not only separated the two Germanies but it was also the dividing line between the free and enslaved world.
The Minister said that those who regarded German reunification as risky and opposed it on those grounds, were and still are unable to handle the challenges of regime changes and post-Communist phenomena.
Mr. Balog stressed that Hungary regards Christian culture and identity as key to both survival and prosperity, and still considers the words of Robert Schuman valid who said that European democracy will either be Christian or it won’t exist at all.