Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also commemorated Árpád Göncz, the President of the people and the President of the nation on Friday evening in Lendva in Muravidék (Prekmurje) where a ceremony was held on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Hungarian national autonomous community in the presence of the Hungarian and Slovenian Prime Ministers.
Mr Orbán said: Csáktornya is not far from Lendva, where Lajos Göncz, captain of the 1848 freedom fight once lived, “whose great-grandson, Árpád Göncz, became – as a worthy follower of this tradition – Hungary’s first elected President of the Republic after the change of regime”. He added that Árpád Göncz was buried just before the ceremony in Muravidék, „we paid him our last respects today which was his due in particular as the president of the people, the nation’s President of the Republic”. “We wish to thank him for what he did for the country and for us”, the Prime Minister said.
At the jubilee event of the Hungarian National Autonomous Community of Muravidék, which was attended by Mr Orbán in the company of Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar, the Hungarian Prime Minister said: Muravidék “was for centuries one of Christian Europe’s guard regions”. Here people born of different nations belong together, and preserve the common values together. “The people living in Muravidék teach Europe today that there are far more things that tie us together than set us apart.” This fact is also recognised in Slovenia’s Constitution when it mentions and protects the Hungarians as an indigenous nationality, and the same principle is also laid down in Hungary’s Fundamental Law when it stipulates that it looks upon the national minorities living here with us as a constituent part of the Hungarian political community and the State.
The Prime Minister pointed out: Europe’s essence lies in mutual appreciation, the acceptance of and respect for one another’s values, mother tongues and cultures. “There is therefore a corner of Europe which may perhaps be far from Brussels but is very much visible from Ljubljana and Budapest.” History has trampled on it a number of times over the course of time; however, when the soldiers had left, the people returned and rebuilt their former lives. They retained their mother tongue, their culture and their faith, but whether the Hungarian community of Muravidék will survive in the light of the decline in its population most depends on them, those who live here. The motherland will give them every support they need, “but we cannot decide for you”, Mr Orbán indicated.
He also reiterated that history has once again kicked the door in on us; an unprecedented flood of people is pouring in through our borders in an uncontrolled manner, and consequently, we are at the beginning of a mass migration whose reserves are unforeseeable. The Prime Minister said: „hundreds of thousands of people from a different civilisation have already crossed our borders illegally, and millions more are coming”. There are some in Europe who would be happy to see the nation states abolished, who would remove the borders and any kind of obstacle that would slow down immigration, and „there are some who would even fund this”. If we fail to stop this flood, „we shall one day find that the Europe that we have fought so hard for no longer exists”, Mr Orbán said.
He continued: we shall one day see that Europe is no longer based on our values but on something else, and the old continent is no longer our home. “We do not want this, and we cannot accept this.” We must make difficult and grave decisions, the Prime Minister pointed out. However, not only the current citizens and voters of our nations will call us to account on these decisions, but also our successors, “generations down the line”. This is why we cannot afford to be weak today; “either in thought, or in words, or in actions”. The Prime Minister stressed: “we must decide in favour of our nation, our identity”. At the same time, he added: there is no doubt that “we must decide in favour of Europe and our Christian culture”.
It is the triple unity of national identity, European identity and our Christian roots that has always made Europe strong. “If we give any of these up, we shall sink, and I therefore suggest that we should not give up either our national identity, or Europe, or Christianity”, Mr Orbán highlighted. Every member of every nation comprising the European Union is responsible for the whole of Europe, beyond their own country. It is in the spirit of this responsibility and active solidarity that Slovak, Czech and Polish police are helping to protect the borders of Hungary, and also of the Schengen zone, and “this is why we would come to Slovenia’s aid if necessary”. As our past ties us together, so does the concern we feel for our common future. “We, Central-Europeans have already lived to see many a time that others decided for us, without us; now we want to be in control of shaping our own fate”, Mr Orbán said.
At the celebration of the Hungarian community in Slovenia, Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar said, inter alia, that excellent neighbourly relations tie the two countries together, and the Slovenian State has guaranteed and financially supported the rights of the Hungarian and Italian minorities in Slovenia ever since its establishment. The common programmes implemented from EU funds represent new opportunities of cooperation. The Slovenian Government would like to make further progress in relations between the two countries in the fields of tourism, the improvement of transport links, and education and science, thereby enriching also the lives of those who live here, Miro Cerar pointed out.
Ferenc Horváth, President of the Hungarian National Autonomous Community of Muravidék took the view at the anniversary gala evening that, without economic growth and job creation, the people living in Muravidék will have no vision of the future. “This community has already survived two waves of emigration; a third one would be a fatal blow”, he said.
Before the ceremony, Mr Orbán met with representatives of the Hungarian community in Muravidék, and after the gala performance before a crowded audience in the grand hall of the Lendva Theatre, he had talks with Miro Cerar as part of a working dinner.