13 December 2015, Budapest
Honourable Congress, Dear Friends, Allies from Hungary and other parts of the Carpathian Basin, Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
When yesterday my friend László Kövér asked me what I was going to talk about today, I said that I was going to talk about everything – and more. (Laughter) Of course the situation is not quite as bad as that. I shall only talk about Hungary, Europe and ourselves.
We held the first Fidesz congress twenty-seven years ago, in the autumn of 1988. There are quite a few of us here today who have been together in this business for almost thirty years – through thick and thin. Yet even after three decades one of the best feelings is to see old comrades-in-arms, together with whom we have grown grey, and to see new ones who have made us stronger. The party jargon simply calls this congress the Fidesz Congress; but in fact these are the most beautiful moments of our life together: to be together, to meet, to look back on the long path we have travelled, to evaluate the past and to plan the future. However, we cannot celebrate with clear consciences when there are floods, or in the shadow of a terrorist attack. There is no room for celebration when what is at stake are the lives of others or everything that they have worked for throughout their lives. This is why we postponed our congress until today, and as we are now well into the Advent season, our decision has proved appropriate. I remember that twenty-seven years ago, when we gathered at the Jurta Theatre, Soviet troops were still very much stationed in Hungary, and the place was swarming with policemen and secret service agents. But in the air we felt the wind of unstoppable change; or, to be more precise, we felt that we were that change itself. Many people just smiled when we, in our twenties, decided to form a party and run in the first free parliamentary elections. We were not professionals, and were only driven by our enthusiasm; but, as you know, the Titanic was built by professionals, while Noah’s Ark was built by an amateur. (Laughter, applause)
And today we are holding our 26th congress, during our third term in government. Together with our allies we are Central Europe’s oldest and largest party – its largest and most successful political community. If we had not set out on this journey at that time, we would be nowhere today. This is always the case with us. We come up with something, others call it impossible, they mock us for it, and then when we pull it off they just stare at us in disbelief. They say that Fidesz is a party which is not right but will be right. What you get in politics for being right too early, prematurely, is a different story. Thank you for allowing me to be a member of such a fantastic community and such a successful team. Thank you for your continued trust. It is an uplifting feeling and an honour to be at the head of such a political community. Yes, however incredible it may be, Fidesz is today the oldest, the biggest and the most successful party in Central Europe. We are not successful because we win elections – though we can with some modesty mention that we have won every national election over the past nine years with an overwhelming majority. It is good to win elections, but victory is only the entrance ticket: the ticket to convert our words into deeds. It is an old law that deeds speak for themselves, and here in Fidesz we understand that law.
Perhaps we have such a long and successful history because the public know that we are people of action, and we are people who deliver on our word. Many others also believe that this is the key to our success. This may well be so, but it is equally important that we know the people we represent very well. We know our own kind very well – their virtues, their flaws, their strengths and their weaknesses; and this is why we can have faith in them. Because we believe in Hungary, and we believe in the Hungarian people. We believe that, despite all difficulties, the Hungarian people are able to raise this country up from any depths. Therefore we who have been given the responsibility to govern need only offer them opportunities to work hard, to create things of value, and to become successful through their own efforts, on the foundations of their own resources. I instantly recognised ourselves when I read the following line by Oscar Wilde on the Irish people. He said that “The Irish are a fair people; they never speak well of one another.” (Laughter) Indeed, we too are a proud, self-confident and – at times – headstrong people, who always want to achieve everything independently on their own terms: a nation which never begs, never accepts other people’s money; a nation which does not want to be either the master or the slave of any other people.
This is what we needed to build on, and was all we had to build on in 2010, when our voters entrusted to us a country which was precariously balanced on the verge of bankruptcy. We took over a country dismissed by everyone the world over, and also by many in Hungary: written off as something irrelevant. Its courage had been eroded, its vitality had evaporated, its self-esteem was dented, and the Hungarian mentality was barely alive. We were quite simply written off, written off together with the Greeks – or perhaps even before the Greeks. Others had effectively given up on us – though the IMF was sent the here to deliver the coup de grâce. By that point we had succeeded in taking over governance of the country, and it was quite a stroke of luck that we happened to be the ones who had done so, because at home we had been taught the first law of holes: if you find yourself in one, stop digging. (Laughter) The hole that had been dug by the Gyurcsány–Bajnai team was already deep enough, so the last thing we needed was a mechanical excavator; and with that in mind we sent the IMF packing.
My Friends,
Only five years have passed since then, and today Hungary is one of the steadiest points of reference in Europe. Many countries would be happy if their finances were as stable as ours, and if they had a finance minister like ours, who obviously deserved to be voted the best. Bravo, Mihály! All in all, most countries in Europe would be quite happy with the Hungarian economy’s growth rate, and would be quite pleased with our unemployment and employment results. Many would breathe a sigh of relief if they succeeded in reducing their sovereign debt in the way we have, if they succeeded in doing away with foreign currency loans, reducing taxes and increasing wages, whilst preserving the value of pensions and helping families with significant amounts. Today, Dear Friends, we are no longer on swampy terrain; we have built strong foundations, and we have firm ground beneath our feet from which to launch ourselves. We can see that tough battles lie ahead for our country and for us; we have yet to fight these, but we have reserves to draw on.
Anyway, Dear Friends, we have been here for thirty years. That is good news for our supporters, and bad news for our opponents: we shall also be here throughout the next thirty years.
Dear Delegates,
Where have we drawn our strength from? If we take a good look at the five years we have just lived through, we can see that in essence our strength lies in having been brave enough to set goals which others deemed impossible to achieve. These have mostly been goals which everyone would desire, but no one thought achievable. This also demonstrates that perhaps the most important thing in life is to be brave. They say that everyone can be happy – the beautiful and the ugly, the clever and the slow-witted, the hardworking and the idle; but a coward can never be happy. If we look at things from this perspective, freedom is effectively the right to be brave. And we in Fidesz have exercised this right. We said things which were formerly seen as taboo, elevated them to a party programme, and eventually, through our governance, to issues of national importance. We spoke freely about the unification of the nation and dual citizenship, by 2010 we had converted these into a party programme, and then we elevated it to an issue of national importance which gained almost unanimous parliamentary support. Who would have thought that household utility bills could not only be increased, but also reduced? We said this out loud, made it our party programme, elevated it to a government programme, and it finally became an issue of national importance. Today even the socialists want to warm themselves by the fire of household utility bill reductions. I could say that, at the end of the day, the people should be grateful to them: if Ildikó Lendvai and her comrades had not been around before us, there would have been nothing to reduce. (Applause) Who would have thought that the country could be relieved of the burden of foreign currency loans, and that the banks could be held to account? We said it out loud, made it our party programme, elevated it to a government programme, and it eventually became an issue of national importance. This is how the restoration of law and order, the reinforcement of the police, the promotion of families and the increased role of banks and multinational companies in shouldering the taxation burden have all become issues of national importance. We have now got so far that opposition politicians themselves pretend – without any embarrassment – that these have always been issues of national importance. Whilst listing our achievements with due modesty, we should never forget that only our citizens are able to elevate any issue to one of national importance ; if they support us, if they persuade , if sometimes they enforce their will. This is the opportunity to thank the Hungarian people for having made our homeland a country where the very existence of issues of national importance has once again been justified: a country in which it is once again possible to pull the cart in a single direction.
Honourable Congress,
Politics is a like a barrel organ, which must be continuously cranked. I was pleased to see that Christian intellectuals started a public debate, a public discussion, on which way life in Hungary should be heading in the next decade or two. We cannot do without this effort, and we could hardly find anyone better suited for the job. We wish to thank them for having embarked on this. We can be proud of the fact that Hungary is still one of those countries – this has gone out of fashion elsewhere – where national-minded thinkers, academics, artists, engineers, doctors and the clergy undertake the heavy burden which is usually seen as the responsibility of the intelligentsia. The goal is to discuss civic consolidation in a calm and thorough manner and to outline an image of the present and a vision of the future which may inspire new ideas and new issues of national importance.
Honourable Congress,
The civic consolidation not only has a programme and content, but also has a policy, a method, a path and a practice by which that programme can be implemented. Everyone knows, and can experience first-hand, that our political community got down to work in a different manner, is pursuing a different type of politics than was customary before 2010 and is pursuing a different type of politics than is customary in Europe today. The most important thing is that we listen to the people: that we listen to them in order to create points of agreement between them and the Government. On very important issues, it is impossible to govern democratically without such an agreement; let us just think of the issue of immigration. We are not lazy, we do not shut ourselves in our offices, we do not watch life in Hungary from our party headquarters, but we consult, we ask and we listen to people’s voices.
It is likewise a specific feature of our politics – and a particularly novelty after the socialists – that we represent Hungarian interests under any circumstances, and do simply not fall in line with others. We understand the power relations, we know our strength and that of others, but we do not allow ourselves to be blackmailed, and we do not automatically accept someone’s argument just because they have a bigger megaphone. When necessary we confront, when necessary we retreat, when necessary we come to an agreement; but the goal is always the same: our policy is a solely and exclusively pro-Hungarian policy. If we do not protect and represent Hungarian interests, no one else will do it, and so here in Fidesz everyday patriotism is a law of life. (Applause)
Something equally unusual in today’s world is that we have both feet on the ground, we build on reality rather than on ideology, and we seek to find answers to people’s problems: their advancement, their security is the most important affair of government. For us the only yardstick of political success is whether our decisions serve the Hungarian people’s interests well or not.
And finally, Dear Friends, our form of politics is an active one. As far as I can see, modern European politics is suffering from a dangerous paralysis, of procrastination, of complete ineptitude. We need courage and strength, so that we have the courage to make decisions and the strength to take action.
Dear Friends,
Over the next few years we shall be working towards civic consolidation. The policy of civic consolidation has clear objectives. These are ambitious objectives. We are setting goals and objectives for the country which former governments did not have the strength to set – and perhaps not the courage.
First of all, less taxation and more jobs. We want everyone in Hungary who is able and willing to work to have a job. We also want to ensure that finding employment is worthwhile for everyone. We want those who work hard to have a decent living, and to find advancement in line with their performance. Today 550,000 more people are in employment than at the beginning of our administration in 2010. This is a fair – even unprecedented – result, but we are only half way through, because the goal is to reach full employment. This is why we are developing our national industry, providing access to land for farmers, and are significantly cutting down on bureaucracy. Less taxation, more enterprise and national industry, more Hungarian farmers and a bureaucracy-free state: these are the sources of another few hundred thousand jobs.
Supporting Hungarian families is one of our ambitious goals. It is our firm belief that without strong and successful families there is no strong and successful country. Without them, we cannot turn around demographic decline. Therefore, as far as we are concerned, families and the children yet to be born are the future of Hungary and Europe. We want every family to have a home. What is more, we also want them to own their homes: every Hungarian family should have a home which they themselves own. To this end, tomorrow we shall submit a proposal to the Honourable House, according to which, in harmony with EU regulations, we shall seek to reduce VAT on housing construction from twenty-seven per cent to five per cent over the course of the next four years.
Our third major goal is to make sure that the Hungarian people should not live in fear. Security and law and order, strict but fair laws, a strong, well-prepared and young police force, a determined counter-terrorism organisation, and an assured disaster management agency. This is how we can protect the country. We shall protect our borders and the Hungarian people against criminals, terrorists and illegal immigrants.
Honourable Congress,
Today we cannot claim to speak about the situation of our country without speaking about the situation of Europe. We see that we have been invaded. Europe is under invasion, it looks like a battlefield, and what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. How many more people will set out, and how many more are preparing to set out for Europe? I think there are millions, or even tens of millions. And we can also see that Europe is drifting; it is weak, uncertain and helpless. It is foundering instead of acting. Europe’s left-wing elite and the leaders of several countries are racking their brains on how to handle the masses of immigrants, instead of taking action to stop the flow. There is a non-stop string of conferences; we know and we have seen that conferences are events which bring together important people who are unable to act on their own, but who together are always able to resolve that in fact nothing can be done. Adenauer once said that “The reason the Ten Commandments are so unambiguous is because they were not first agreed upon at a conference.” (Laughter, applause) But the situation is simple and obvious: it is quite clear to every reasonable person that Europe cannot support this many people, cannot provide the jobs, housing, social and health care, education, training and transport for this many people. Europe’s economy and welfare system will crumble under such an enormous burden – and sooner than anyone would think today.
But there are also some darker clouds gathering on the horizon. Mass migration is threatening the security of Europeans because it brings with it an exponentially increased threat of terrorism. And one terrorist is one too many. People are coming to Europe in their thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands. We know nothing about these people: where they really come from, who they are, what their intentions are, whether they have received any training, whether they have weapons, or whether they are members of any organisation. Furthermore, mass migration also increases crime rates. This is a taboo subject in Europe, it is not PC to talk about this, but all the same it is a fact: crime rates have increased wherever migrants have settled in Europe in large numbers. There is more violence and more crime. Whether you like it or not, my friends, these are facts. Likewise we cannot ignore the fact that this mass migration – the mass settlement in Europe of people coming from different civilisations – is a threat to our culture, our way of life, our customs and our traditions. We can see the extremely rapid appearance of parallel societies. Only a complacent European could possibly think that others find our European way of life more valuable and more desirable than their own. It is just the reverse! They see their own ways of life as more valuable, stronger and more viable than ours. They do not have the slightest intention of giving up their own, adopting ours and integrating into our society.
Even if the surface is calm – and until quite recently it was – deep down a world of parallel societies is being built slowly but surely, step by step, and, according to the laws of nature, it will suppress our world, and reduce us, our children and grandchildren to a minority. If things continue like this, we will lose Europe. And yet European leaders are extending more invitations one after the other, instead of firmly but fairly sending the message that immigrants will not find here anything like what they are expecting.
Honourable Congress,
How could this happen? Quite clearly what is happening is not a mere accident, not a chain of unintentional events, but a planned and controlled process. A bizarre coalition has been formed: a coalition of human traffickers, human rights activists and Brussels bureaucrats. This coalition is not working on putting an end to the mass migration; on the contrary, they are working on transporting and settling migrants here safely, swiftly and lawfully. Hungary has the extremely questionable distinction of being represented among this scheme’s authors and controllers by one of its famous – or infamous – sons, who openly admits to being the orchestrator of this programme.
Dear Friends,
How did we end up in this situation? Why and how did Europe become defenceless? Why is it unable to forecast and prevent one crisis after another? Why is it unable to at least defend itself against financial, economic, demographic and immigration crises? We know that the European economy is sclerotic, and we also know that we are declining demographically. We are likewise aware of the gross distortions of the European superstate. These are, of course, serious problems, but they are not fatal: they can be cured. However, the really fatal disease threatening Europe is more of an intellectual nature. A common cause lies at the root of the troubles: Europe does not acknowledge its own identity. Today the European spirit and its people believe in superficial and secondary things: in human rights, progress, openness, new kinds of family and tolerance. These are nice things, but are in fact only secondary, because they are merely derivative. Yes, Europe today believes in secondary things, but does not believe in the source of those things. It does not believe in Christianity, it does not believe in common sense, it does not believe in military virtues, and it does not believe in national pride. It does not believe in that which created it and which was once Europe itself: it does not believe in it, does not stand up for it, does not argue for or fight for it, and is not willing to make sacrifices for it.
They do not want to think or speak about who they actually are, and as they do not acknowledge their own identity, they do not acknowledge their distinctiveness either. But without distinguishing themselves from others, they will inevitably lose themselves. And it is abundantly clear that Europe is ancient Greece, not Persia; it is ancient Rome, not Carthage; and it is Christianity, not the caliphate. This is by no means a claim for superiority. The fact that there is a European civilisation does not mean that we are better or worse than others: it means that this is what we are, and that is what they are. To distinguish, to separate and to affirm European civilisation does not mean isolation; it only means – but it really means – that our openness will not be allowed to lead to our disintegration and our dissolution when we come into contact with the foreigners whom we take in.
Dear Friends,
Europe is an old but fertile continent. It has survived the appearance of many terrifying ideas. There were some which turned into problems – even tragedies – and there were some which did not. They turned into problems and tragedies when Europe proved to be weak and unable to resist insane ideas. It was unable to resist, for example, when the idea arose to divide people based on their race, and to classify them based on genetics. This is how Europe became the home of racial theory and National Socialism. It was also unable to resist when the idea of classifying people based on their social class came up, and when the aim was to turn everyone into an identical “Homo Sovieticus”. This is how Europe became the home of class conflict theory and communism. Today this all seems to be absurd, but Dear Friends, it did not look like that back then. Indeed, serious people with straight faces, convinced of their moral superiority, wrote enough books on this to fill a library. Today I see another army of serious people, who with straight faces and convinced of their moral superiority, wish to marginalise European nations, and argue for the vision of a new United States of Europe. This will lead to problems!
The European left – the left again – believes that Europe will be happy if we eliminate the nations which represent its soul, and replace them with a European superstate. Many people in Brussels like this idea, and many are working towards achieving this by stealth. But the Europe and the Union we like – the one we joined on the basis of a common desire, the Europe of nations – is based on the cooperation of nations, on mutual respect and on shared opinions; it is not one of top-down edicts and orders from Brussels. Now, for example, over there they want to tell us over here whom we should be living alongside. We are familiar with this situation – when people outside Hungary want to dictate our future – and we do not want to have it again. Therefore Hungary has filed a challenge against the mandatory resettlement quotas at the Court of Justice of the European Union and, as far as I can see, we are not alone in this. We are not confused about our role, we do not long for the role of a great European power, we know who we are and where our place is. We know that the fate of Europe is determined by the decisions of the European great powers – even if now they appear in the cloak of Europe; but we have to clearly declare that Hungarians do not like the mandatory resettlement quotas.
This is why we have succeeded in collecting one and a half million signatures against the quotas, and I thank you for your help in reaching everyone. You can see that only if we unite can we stop this irrational and unlawful edict. We send the message from here to all those who want to live in a free and safe Europe that they should sign the petition against the quotas; those who do not want to live under an increasing threat of terrorism should sign it; those who do not want to have deteriorating public security should sign it; those who feel responsible for their children and descendants should sign it; those who want future generations to have jobs, to have their own European culture, to have their own European and Hungarian lives should sign it – and should get others to sign it, too. Do not forget how we were criticised for the Hungarian media act. And today in connection with the migrant situation our eyes have been opened to an orchestrated media environment in the West. I would never have thought that I would be standing here, and would find myself having to say that freedom of thought, speech and the media in Hungary is wider, deeper and more diverse than in countries to the west of Hungary.
Dear Friends,
Europe is the coexistence of free and independent nations with Christian roots, based on shared values, a shared history and on mutual geographical and geopolitical interdependence. We have shared ideologies, such as freedom and responsibility, fair competition, dignity and respect, pride and humility, justice and mercy. In saying this, I have done the job of Józsi Szájer, because I have been able to say positive things about the European Union. My friends, there are times when you can only stay on your feet if you are able to renew yourselves. And today Europe is calling for renewal, and European nations can only do this jointly. We are ready. If the big countries make up their minds, if there are others who want to join, we Hungarians will not be left trailing behind them.
This is all good, but what does renewal mean? A rule of thumb is that the depth of renewal must be at least equal to the size of the problem. Today this means that we must end a period, and we have to try to open a new one. The past twenty-five years of our lives have formed a great liberal period in Europe. It has had outstanding phases, good results, great moments and characters typical of the period, and we can be happy that we have known them personally. By today, however, liberal politics has lost its appeal, and it is bringing failure after failure: it has run out of breath, it is exhausted. Here the reasons are secondary; what is important is the final result. We cannot expect anything from it, nothing that European people would need; it is not able to handle the problems of the economy, it is helpless in managing the demographic crisis, and it is unable to protect people against external and internal threats – against migration, terrorism and crime. It has become fossilised and obsessive, it senses animosity everywhere, and is angry if its theories are questioned; it is irritated to hear new ideas and becomes aggressive if people argue against it. It has lost its connection with reality, and instead of debate it wishes to restrict public debate; and in order to achieve this, it has established the prohibition signs and rules of political correctness. In essence I agree with my friend József Szájer, I would just say that we have reached a point at which liberal politics has turned against freedom: it has turned against freedom of thought, speech and the media, and thus it has inevitably found itself opposed to the people and democracy. What was liberal democracy has turned into non-democratic liberalism. Theory can accommodate this concept, but people cannot. Increasingly complicated rules shackle people, they suffocate the free European spirit and rationally-thinking, creative Europeans. This is why the continent has lost its basic survival instincts.
We propose a return to a democratic Europe: from the weak Europe of today’s leaders to a strong Europe of the people. The next European period will either be a period of democracy, or there will be no next European period. The European Union, too, needs new rules. It is no accident that Britain wants to renegotiate the conditions of its membership. Times have changed – we live in a different world. Twenty-eight countries cannot cooperate on the basis of rules which were meant to regulate the cooperation of six countries. The task, therefore, Dear Friends, is not to do a few things better – we must do more than that. I am one of those who wants to see Hungarians living in a Christian Europe for another one thousand years; and in order to achieve this we must bring an end to a period, both in terms of politics and of ideology – however painful that might be to certain politicians in Brussels.
Dear Friends,
Having talked about the country and Europe, now I shall say something about ourselves. I am happy to have received the nomination for President of the party, and I thank you for electing me as President. You know me, I am not one to offer a pig in a poke; the most important task of the President over the next two years will be to prepare Fidesz and its allies for the election. I have been given good vice-presidents to assist me in this task: vice-presidents shaped from hard wood, who know the meaning of hard work. But I did not agree to take on the presidency in order to abandon it after two years of election preparations; I do not see these two years as a kind of winding-down, but as preparation. I would like to make it clear to you that in two years’ time, if I maintain your confidence, I shall stand ready to lead you in the election campaign; and if we win, I shall also stand ready to continue the work of leading the Government. It is also true that I still believe that we have leaders and characters in Fidesz who could do my job, and who could chair and lead our alliance with success similar to that which I have had so far; not in the same way, not in exactly the same style, not with the same methods, but with similar results. So why is it me standing in front of you again? First of all, it is because my wife has not prohibited me from doing so – and this is an accurate statement. And secondly, because we do not want to leave the familiar path for an unknown one; not today. And thirdly, because we are facing hard times, and the times ahead will be just as dangerous.
And my friends, in these times unity is the most important: the unity of Hungary, the unity of the Hungarian community in the Carpathian Basin, and the unity of Hungarians worldwide. But you must be aware that unity is not something which descends upon us like a fog. Unity must be built; unity – or at least its more enduring kind – is organised from within, from the core towards the shell, from the centre towards the extremities. This means that the key to Hungarian unity lies in the unity and cohesion of the intellectual and political movement which exercises the principal power, its internal culture of camaraderie. And you must also be aware that, in my mind, unity is not the same as uniformity. A monochrome uniformity leads to greyness, to physical and intellectual idleness, to feeble-mindedness or an intolerable lack of intellect, and it inevitably disintegrates. We need the kind of unity in which everyone can stay true to themselves, can follow their own vision of life, can play their own instrument, but in the end contribute to a dazzling and enthralling harmony and accord. This is my conviction, and this is the Fidesz which I represent and for which I strive.
You can also see that for me the highest principle of leadership is respect. I render to all what is due them. You might also know that I am not one for the whip: I believe debates produce more than orders, agreements produce more than commands, understanding produces more than compulsion. But it is also clear that success not only requires diversity, creative freedom and a positive atmosphere, but also a transparent internal order which is respected by all of us. Friendship is fine, bravura is fine, dazzling talent is fine, exhilarating and youthful dynamism is fine too, but when it comes to the interests of our community – about its honour, strength and ability to act – no one should be allowed to cross a certain line. And the enforcement of this law is the obligation and responsibility of the President; this means that I am standing here in front of you again as re-elected President because I represent this diverse, vibrant, inventive policy, which brings together different thoughts and instincts and believes in an organised approach. It is my belief that this is what the Christian, civil and national community needs, this is what is needed here and now in Hungary and in Hungarian communities across the Carpathian Basin; this will be the essence of the presidential programme.
Dear Friends, Honourable Congress,
Our path has been one of unprecedented ascent and achievement. Over the past twenty-five years a complete generational change has taken place – not only in politics and economy, but also in the fields of culture, science and sports; this has brought about all the associated intellectual, material and psychological consequences. And thus the prophecy made by our Speaker of the House László Kövér at the college movement meeting in Szarvas in 1985 has come true – pay attention Gergő, because you were not yet six years old back then. He said that “We, who are sitting here now, might soon find ourselves in the leading positions of this society, whether we and those who preceded us like it or not. With our decisions and work, we will influence the fate of individuals and groups, and through them that of the whole society”. End of quote.
And indeed our political community Fidesz has played a paramount role in this historic change. It is enough to look around our own backyard. We have given Hungary its current President, who embodies Hungary’s national unity with dignity, and whom we can all be proud of. Furthermore, in the presidential field we have seen huge reserves of optimistic good humour and ebullience. We have given Hungary the first – and so far only – President to oversee a new constitution: Pál Schmitt. Yes, we have created Hungary’s first written democratic constitution, and without him we could not have achieved this. We are proud of President Pál Schmitt – our President – who, despite the injustice he was subjected to, has not lost his optimism, his love for Hungary and joy for work. Even today he is fighting on our side. Thank you for being here, Mr. President.
We have given Hungary a governor of the Hungarian National Bank who, instead of a senseless monetary policy decoupled from national interests, has built a policy which serves the Hungarian economy. An institution can be independent in many ways. We thank György Matolcsy for turning the Hungarian National Bank into what it is meant to be: the Hungarian, national, bank.
And we have given the European Peoples’ Party and the European Parliament one of its important, strong personalities: József Szájer. As you have seen, he is undeterred by unhealthy change in European politics, and is protecting Hungary against the renewed attacks of the European left.
And we have produced excellent constitutional judges, audit office presidents, outstanding mayors and great sports leaders, who have shown how one can, should and must represent the people and the interests of the nation.
And we are giving access to public life for new generations of well-prepared, ambitious, modern nationally-minded young people, who are ready for the 21st century, and who are in line to take on the responsibility of our task, advancing step by step in time to the accomplishment of work and the values served.
Dear Friends,
Indeed our path has been one of ascent and achievement, and this has consequences which go beyond our personal lives. This can, for example, provoke envy. This is surely true, even if it is disappointing. But it is also true that pity is only given as a gift; one must work hard for envy. So I say that it is better that they envy us rather than pity us. But more importantly, our example has awoken positive instincts in others: it has prompted positive reflexes, it has brought strength and determination, and has provided proof that it is in fact worth it, that it can be done and there is always hope. It is enough to remember that there were only thirty-seven of us when we founded Fidesz, while the Communist party numbered about 800,000 people, and the Workers’ Militia itself had 50,793 members. And yet it is we who stand here today. There were times when we won elections, and there were times when we lost, but we have always managed to emerge from the depths to the surface. Even when we hit rock bottom, we reached for the stars; we have set the highest possible objectives for ourselves, and we have reached them. This is true, it is possible, and these things can be reached and can be achieved. We want our example to be attractive to others, to provide a magnet of strength, courage and a sense of life to all Hungarians. We want this success to belong not only to us, but to all Hungarians.
Dear Delegates,
If one is unsuccessful, it is easy to identify the meaning of one’s everyday effort: to leave failure behind, to move from a bad situation to a good one, to find a place in the sun. If one is successful – especially if one has been successful for years, and our community has been successful for years now – it is not that easy to find the answer. What is the meaning of the renewed efforts of a successful community, of so many successful people? Do not forget that our experience as a robust governing party in Hungary has now come to a total of ten years. What drives us? Why do we go to work every morning, just to get back home late in the evening? And why do we expose ourselves to unjust attacks day after day? What is the personal meaning of all this? After all, we have already brought order to the country, and by the end of the electoral cycle Hungary will be in quite an acceptable situation. What do we want, what can we want? The popular idiot-proof answer would be world peace, galactic happiness, intergalactic freedom and the like. These might be sufficient answers in American movies, but in Andy’s view this is not enough anymore. Our explanation goes deeper than this.
And maybe here we can also find the answer to what holds us together. Deutsch, Pokorni, Navracsics, Farkas, Kubatov, Schmitt: how could we all share the same blood? For we do – we belong together. There must surely be some mysterious gravitational force which is able to keep such a huge community together. There are thousands of us – together with our activists, maybe even hundreds of thousands of us. We have different ideas about the economy, culture, religion, family, politics. It is almost unbelievable that such a large community is together, that it keeps together and – even if has to face difficulties along the way – it is able to tidy up and reorganise itself, and to get back on its feet again and again. It gets back on track and continues on its way. There are not enough positions, benefits, sinecures, tips and bribes – not even in the whole of Europe; that is something only our opponents – especially those nourished from communist roots – believe. Only they believe in those things – that the solution is that easy. Those who believe this only appreciate basic appetites, only recognise the material aspect of the universe, and believe that the sole motivation of politics is pure interest. I tend to think that, behind our differences, our diversity and variety, there is something which we all believe in. There are some who have come to this through philosophy, some by instinct, some maybe due to their upbringing; and there might be some who were led to it by life’s difficulties. I think we all believe that our life can only be meaningful and valuable and only of weight if we serve something greater and more important than our own lives: for example our families, our country or the kingdom of God. Or maybe all three at the same time.
Dear Friends,
We are connected and kept together by the feeling that without these life would be unbearably weightless and empty; we would feel as if it were meaningless. A life would be inconsequential and of no importance, something that made no difference; it would be six or half a dozen – or, more precisely, one out of the seven billion. We, however, believe that our lives are significant, they have weight, they are unique and unrepeatable, and are therefore indispensable for the world. They are lives in which the fate of important things might change. Yes, we here in Fidesz believe – although our stiff upper lip prevents us from talking about it, but maybe once in every two years we can afford to – that weight and meaning are given to our lives by service, serving goals which are higher than us. We cannot be exactly sure of what our first king meant when he said that only humility can lift us up, and only pride can bring us down. He might have thought the same as we do: the meaning of life is service, and there cannot be service without humility, and those who do not understand this might become successful, but they will in the end suffocate in their own pride.
Dear Friends,
We can believe, Dear Friends, that for as long as this is true our work will not be aimless, we will not run out of missions, there will always be other obstacles to overcome, ever more summits to climb will appear. As long as this is true our strength will not evaporate, we will always be able to renew; we will be successful – but when not, we will rise from our ashes, and come back to the centre of the Hungarian nation’s political life. Congratulations on the past years. I wish you great success!
Go for it Hungary, go for it Hungarians!