What St. Stephen once professed, and what later the Hungarian political elite between the two World Wars also highlighted is topical today as well: we must be the best so that we may become the strongest here, in Central-Europe, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office stated on Sunday in Makó.
St. Stephen had the courage to choose a path before others in Europe which had been trodden by few at the time, János Lázár said at the ceremony organised by the Makó Municipality. The politician who is also Member of Parliament for the constituency stressed that the Hungarian Government, too, is seeking to show Europe the way when it says that it envisages the success of the third millennium in strong nations, rather than in internationalism, the complete elimination of borders and the elimination of national existence.
St. Stephen did not only choose that we should be Christian, but also organised a church and a state, and by doing so, it also reinforced the nation. Many profess, and we, too, have reason to believe in 2017 that had St. Stephen not designated the Christian path for us, had he not organised the state and church, there would be no Hungarians any more in the Carpathian Basin, the Minister said.
In his speech, Mr Lázár stressed the importance of a common choice of values: money in itself is by far not enough to make a community happy. To achieve happiness, members of the community must think in terms of values and make choices on the basis of values.
“For the first time after thirty years, we now have the possibility in Hungary to plan the future of a community or a city for the medium term or even for the long term. We are in a situation for the first time that it is not austerity, but opportunities that determine our scope for manoeuvring.”
According to the Minister, “today we no longer have to confine our gaze to the end of our shoes, but we can also look a little further”. The big question is whether the nation will be able to make good use of the opportunities created with blood, sweat and tears, he added.
The decorations of the Municipality, the titles of honorary citizen and honorary diplomas were handed over at the ceremony. At the request of Mayor Éva Erzsébet Farkas, the attendees remembered the victims of the terrorist attack in Barcelona with one minute’s silence.